Ben 10: The Banished Hero
by i4md347h
Summary: In Universe Vs Tennyson, Ben loses to the Galactic Gladiator, along with the right to stay in his universe. As penance, the galactic court banished the universe's best hero from the universe without giving the chance to say goodbye. Now stranded a world far more alien than his own, Ben must find his way in a strange new world. And uncover what it truly means to be a hero.
1. Chapter 1: A Bad Day In Court

**Hello, this is I4MD347H. As you know, the primary author of the series decided to retire, which is a shame for us fans of the series. Thus, I took it upon myself to continue his legacy the best I could.**

On the calm Earth of man, to the inhabitants' unawares, the galaxy's most significant epoch in galactic history commenced at a young and seemingly uneventful night, a calm before the encroaching storm masked in the routine silence.

A robbery at a Mr. Smoothies alerted the Plumbers, a random alien hijacking the cash register in the open night. The crime scene still currently in progress, the Rust Bucket sped through the shadowed street with burning rubber, with Rook driving with Ben at his side.

"I swear if that sleazebag of a lawyer gets in our way again-"

"Keep calm Ben. I'm sure we can sort this out. Even Chadzmuth's skills are limited."

The Galvan in question was the lawyer 'legally' protecting the criminals, those that repeatedly instigated trouble in Bellwood, with extremely irritating efficiency.

The proto-truck skidding to a halt outside their designated Mr. Smoothies, both Plumbers hopped out as Rook aimed his Prototool at the amphibian criminal while Ben hovered his hand above his dial.

But before conflict sparked, Chadzmuth warped in between them in a flash of white particles, standing inside a small green and grey open briefcase retrofitted as his hovercraft.

"Ah, ahh, ahh. You Plumbers have no right to harass my client."

Anger swelled, Chadzmuth's irritating voice and assured confidence nearly popping one of Ben's vein like a needle poking a balloon.

"But he is currently committing a crime!" Rook severely rebuked, unable to tolerate Galvan's mockery of intergalactic justice with his 'superior Galvan logic.'

"'Allegedly' committing a crime," Chadzmuth retorted.

'Even the 'alleged' criminal was caught with a rug sack of Taydens in hand?' Ben and Rook retorted.

Chadzmuth's 'logic' severing the last string of Ben's restraint, Ben's anger erupted in verbal outrage.

"You know? It's sleazebags like you that give lawyers a bad name!" Especially since said lawyer was 'allegedly' supporting the chaos in Bellwood for the sake of monetary gain.

The Galvan lawyer chuckled in response, shaking his head at Ben's naivety.

"Young man, I'll have you know that lawyers always have a bad name. And I provide a necessary service. Everyone is entitled to the best possible defense."

'Even though they're repeated offenders?' Ben mentally retorted.

"That is indeed true," Rook supported his claim to Ben's chagrin, earning his partner's brief sideways glare.

"Who knows? Someday even the great Ben Tennyson will require my assistance," Chadzmuth said with a cocky grin.

"Never. Gonna. Happen," Ben replied with absolute confidence that such a time would never arrive.

But his absolution proved flimsy, his 'confidence' smashed to fragments under the hammering arrival of the creator gods in the next few seconds.

" **BEN TENNYSON!** "

Like thunder, an ominous, stentorian voice bellowed from the starlit night. Like lightning, a spatial tear cleaved thwart the moonlit sky, widening into a yawning void of cosmic night.

Looking up, an erecting obelisk of ancient grey descended from the celestial void, each of its four sides around the peak gilded by stone faces.

Each face resembled a petrified version Bellicus or Serena, stone replicas of the Celestialsapien mind, only three times more imposing than either of the Alien X's dual consciousness.

Upon halting at maximum descent, the obelisk flashed several armored Celestialsapiens in hyperfast succession, each surrounding the grey pillar with ritualistic grace and ancestral reverence.

The four triangular corners of the obelisk's peak unfolded like those of a paper fortune teller, opening to reveal a white, shimmering void within. From the stone pillar, another Celestialsapien descended basked by the pillar's heavenly light, one not only armored like the rest of his kind but also bearing a long, regal beard woven from the most elegant fabric of the cosmic night.

Not only that, two horn-like spikes emerge from both sides of his head, blue-metallic straps around his arms and gladiator sandals for legwear, sturdy metal pads embellished his shoulders, and, in his left hand, a blue-metal grey twin-pronged scepter that held a shining white orb between the spikes.

His mind wandering, Ben mentally labeled that one Starbeard since he stood out with said beard.

"Did you think you could escape our notice when you used your Celestialsapien form, Alien X, to recreate the entire universe?" The Celestialsapien Ben labeled as Starbeard said.

Rook and Chadzmuth looked up in complete, abject shock, their jaws hung and their brains riled into a stupor.

"Aha! Told Ya!" Ben proudly gloated to the dumbfounded Rook, ignoring the severity of his debacle.

"Thus, you are at this moment charged with unauthorized alteration of reality! And for that, you must pay!"

"Uh, what?"

The gravity of the situation finally dawned on him. The Celestialsapiens accused him of violating a multi-universal law, with consequences as dire as their species were omnipotent.

"Ben Tennyson! Prepare for your reckoning!" Starbeard declared.

The next moment, all of the Celestialsapiens and the obelisk disappeared in a static flash, the silent, earthly night restored to its tranquil state, almost as if the Gods didn't descend to the mortal Earth in the first place.

A few seconds later, Ben looked around and patted his own body to check for any changes.

"Huh that wasn't so bad-" But then Ben was suddenly transported, now standing on a platform surrounded by violet nebulas dotted by stars and far-distant planets as far as his eyes could see. There were multiple other platforms like the one he stood on. Seeing this, Ben dropped his jaw agape upon realizing the Celestialsapiens brought him to the galactic court without any forewarnings.

"Intergalactic high court case number 1016-058. Universe V Tennyson is now in session," a Highbreed Bailiff stated in a gruff tone. One Ben recognized before the last time he encountered the intergalactic high court when he was still dating Julie.

Ben's mouth was still agape trying to parse his current debacle until he spotted the same bearded Celestialsapien that spoke to him earlier.

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. The prosecution states that you did, willfully and deliberately, altered the fabric of reality. In violation of the multiverse preservation act," Judge Domstol, a Sylonnoid judge Ben was acquainted with in the past regarding the case with the Vreedles and the Galvanic Mechmorph that birthed Ship to Julie, Baz-El.

From his shoulders up to his forehead, most of his body constituted of copper. His lips and the outline of his eyes are copper, his eyes small and shifted upwards. His sclera was black, and his pupils white. His brain pokes out of his metal head, protected by a cranial dome of thin, transparent material, displaying his grey matter organ to the world through the looking glass, with a copper circle on the front of his brain.

Unlike last time, Domstol now wore glasses and a periwig donning his dome head. His gloves are now entirely made of copper, his artificial body garbed in an attire very reminiscent to the judges of Earth.

On Domstol's far right, Ben saw the same bearded Celestialsapien descending to his view, seated in the same conic bronze pod representing the seat of the accuser.

"How do ya plead?"

"Innocent," Ben confidently stated.

"I mean, C'mon! You remember me, don't ya, Judge Domstol? Wielder of the Omnitrix? Savior of the universe? Ring a Bell?" Ben attempted to woo the judge into his favor using his standing as a hero.

"I do indeed remember and admire the great Ben Tennyson. However, since this is a massive class-action lawsuit involving the ENTIRE universe and everyone in it, your fate is not just up to me, but to every sentient being in the cosmos," The Judge Domstol stated, causing Ben to frown.

"This trial is being broadcasted to quadrillions of beings bearing the right to vote on your guilt or innocence."

'Oh, crap,' Ben thought.

'What if Mom, Dad, and Gwen see this?'

Ben stifled a gulp, trying to ignore the weight of the fact his fate was in the hands of the entire universe.

"But wait, there's more."

A pendulum-like device of bronze materialized from nowhere in a flash of particles, a futuristic libra scale of sorts, one modeled after the famous Egyptian fulcrum to weight one's actual guilt, with one side bearing a circular screen with a red measure bar while the other was green.

"This device is capable of keeping a 100% accurate tally of every vote in the Universe in real time!" The Highbreed Bailiff stated.

In other words, no time will be wasted in Ben's case, cutting off Ben the chance to delay the trial to a future date.

"You have a lawyer Ben? Or will you defend yourself?" The Judge professionally inquired.

"What? _Lawyer_? How am I supposed-" Ben then nearly tripped, as Chadzmuth's card found its way into his hands from his pocket. Upon seeing the accursed card of the most irritating lawyer in the galaxy, Ben internally groaned as his gut pained with insurmountable regret. He paused as he stared at the business card, heavily contemplating his options before making a choice.

It was either call upon the sleazebag lawyer and prevent a universal extinction or relinquish the universe to its fate.

"Aww man…" He activated the card knowing the amount of regret his choice will bring, and a hologram of Chadzmuth appeared.

"[You have reached the office of Chadzmuth and intergalactic attorney and law.]" The hologram Chadzmuth said. A part of Ben died once he uttered the next words.

"Look, I'm sorry I called you a sleazebag, okay? I know our relationship is rocky, but I… need your help."

"Please?" Ben groaned, channeling his faith in seemingly vain hope.

To his surprise and relief, the Galvan lawyer materialized right next to Ben, riding within his green vehicular suitcase and all.

"I'll take the case. Lucky for you I never lose," Chadzmuth stated confidently.

Ben thanked the stars that he managed to acquire professional help.

"So how many cases have you argued before the galactic high court?"

Chadzmuth thought for a moment.

"Including this one. _One_."

A wave of worry wash over Ben's heart, doubts of the Galvan's credibility already breaching his faith as said Galvan hovered beside him.

"This will be a walk in the park. All they care about are witnesses. Nothing to worry about," the lawyer assured.

Ben held his head in his hands, his growing anxiety stronger than ever.

"Universe calls to the witness stand Mr. Ignatious Baumann," The Highbreed decreed.

As he stated, Mr. Baumann materialized in a pod, the witness seat next to Judge Domstol.

"Wha-what's going on? Where am I?" Mr. Baumann darted his head left and right in wild confusion like any ordinary abducted human would.

The mere sight of the obese old man forced Ben into a panicked yelp as he ducked lower under his pod, attempting to avoid eye contact from the man he wronged unjustly countless times. His attempts failed.

"Ben? Grrughh, I should've known…" Mr. Baumann grumbled, glowering at the sight of the walking, human catastrophe.

"Please just recall any interactions you've had with the accused," Judge Domstol requested.

"I'm doomed…" Ben whimpered.

As if to worsen his predicament, a holographic screen materialized above Judge Domstol, screening a montage of many Ben's shenanigans and accidents that directly destroyed his private property, his and his alone, in vivid, high definition.

"That boy, he's been driving me crazy with his antics all my life ever since he was a little brat! Always destroying desecrating my property without end!" Mr. Baumann vehemently vented his frustrations regarding Ben, his words carrying the years of pain and suffering he endured under the hands of all manners of misfortunes enacted by Ben.

"Let's see what our viewers have to say about that," The Judge said, pointing at the galactic Libra Scale.

Predictably, the device tipped toward the red on the guilty. Ben's heart, like the red scale, sank even further with accumulating despair.

"Save me," Ben whimpered to his lawyer.

To defend his now pathetic client, Chadzmuth flew his chair over to Mr. Baumann.

"Tell me Mr. Baumann do you honestly believe that my client is capable of creating an exact duplicate of the Universe and everyone in it?"

"Ben… Tennyson is incapable of creating anything other than destruction to my personal property!" Mr. Baumann stated angrily.

"No further questions your honor," Chadzmuth said.

Mr. Baumann then dematerialized in a flash of static black and white, returning to whence he came.

"Huh, that could've gone so much worse," Ben said with relief.

"Your honor the prosecution would like to call its own witness."

To prove him wrong, Starbeard said otherwise, before Rook materialized in another pod in the distance a second later. Two seconds passed before Rook waved to Ben in a friendly gesture.

"Ben, I voted for you earlier! Did I win the grand prize?" Rook asked.

In his bronze pod, Starbeard descended upon Rook, hovering above the witness.

"Rook Blonko, would you regard your partner as someone who blatantly ignores procedure?" Starbeard questioned.

"Absolutely not!" Rook replied, raising Ben's hopes to its zenith.

"To disregard something, one must first be aware of its existence. Ben has frequently demonstrated his ignorance of procedure as well as a countless host of other topics."

But Rook's careless, blunt honesty shattered Ben's peace of mind like a hammer to glassware.

'Rook!' Ben internally screamed.

With a depressing mechanical whir, the fulcrum sank even further towards the red.

"No further questions, your honor," Starbeard said, hovering up away from Rook in satisfaction.

"The defense would like to cross-examine this witness," Chadzmuth said, hovering towards Rook in his multi-purpose suitcase-transport.

While speaking, a steel-grey contraption from the seat behind Rook's head surrounded him, with three octagonal slabs environ his head, one atop his skull and two on each side.

"Now then, please focus your thoughts on the alleged crimes that you _allegedly_ witnessed."

A new screen appeared high above, replaying a memory from Rook's mind regarding the Anihilaarg, displaying Rhomboid crashing chin-first to the concrete along with an onyx-black case clattering the sidewalk, before the Anihilaarg's lid flipped open revealing a big red button within.

"But the anihilaarg turned out to be a dud. So the universe and everything in it was not destroyed," Rook informally stated.

"The universe and everything in it was **not** destroyed! Your honor, the prosecution has failed to prove that my client committed the crime of which he is being accused. Or that **any** crime was even committed."

In result, the green on the pendulum increased, returned the Libra Scale to equilibrium.

"Yes! Innocent. Thank you, Universe!" Ben exclaimed, pumping his arms forward with a triumphant, yet goofy smile.

However...

"The prosecution would like to call one last witness to the stand," Starbeard called.

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson."

Ben's mouth was once again agape. He and Rook then swapped places via particle materialization, though Ben appeared a few meters too high above his seat, resulting in his unsightly fall as he crashed with an unheroic yelp.

"Open record exhibit A. A Mr. Smoothies great smoothie," Starbeard said as a smoothie materialized in front of Ben while he picked himself up.

"Mr. Tennyson. Will you taste Exhibit A for the court?" Starbeard asked, raising Ben's anxiety to higher levels.

'Crap, he knew!' Starbeard was aware of the only flaw in Ben's recreational copy. The Mr. Smoothies' iconic beverages, their iconic smoothies. Nervousness taking hold and his body perspiring, Ben furtively pulled the scruff of his shirt to air out the metaphorical rise of temperature emanating from his guilt.

"Actually, I'm not very thirsty," Ben nervously declined, but then Domstol's image appeared before the small, holographic display in front of Ben.

"Just drink the smoothie, Mr. Tennyson," Domstol groaned, not willing to allow further excuses from the Universe's greatest troublemaker.

With dramatic tension, Ben stared down the smoothie for a moment, sweat trickling his neck as he gulped with nervousness. Slowly with a shaking hand, he trepidatiously wrapped his fingers around the plastic cup with palpable tension, and hesitantly placed his lips on the straw. Ben waited for a few seconds before he started noisily slurping the contents.

"Do you notice anything... 'peculiar' about this smoothie?" Starbeard asked with unhidden insinuations laced in his words.

Ben looked around nervously as he gulped, tasting the flawed flavor he never could correct.

"Anything _different_?" He taunted, almost as if confident in his absolute victory.

Hearing this, after one suspenseful minute, Ben finally reached his mental limit, unable to repress his guilt and shame. Then he broke, unable to handle the pressure anymore.

"Alright, I admit it! It doesn't taste the same I was too late to save the universe and everything in it from being destroyed. So I used Alien X to make an exact duplicate!" Ben confessed. "But I just couldn't get the great flavor riiiiiiight!"

Ben then started sobbing, laying his soul bare for the entire universe in the form of a pathetic crybaby and not the greatest hero of the Universe.

"Your honor, I rest my case."

Ben reappeared right next to Rook and the Galvan lawyer.

"Don't worry kid, the worst case scenario you'll have to make restitution," Chadzmuth assured.

"But that means that the universe and everything in it will be destroyed. Again!" Ben shrieked.

With one last stand, Chadzmuth flew over to face the judge and the universe, preparing his speech for all the souls that bared witness.

"Your honor and beings throughout the universe. We all know that Celestialsapiens change the universe as often as my client changes his shirt," Chadzmuth paused for a moment.

"Okay, bad example, but my point and I do have one, is that Celestialsapiens change the universe _all the time_! For instance, first thinker Azmuth's voice and appearance have changed on at least three occasions. For all we know, Celestialsapiens are out there changing the universe at this very moment. I put it to you ladies and gentle aliens, and not so gentle aliens. Is it right to hold one scrawny little human-"

"Hey!" Ben objected.

"...responsible for the misdeeds of an entire species of omnipotent beings? I say nay! NAY, I SAY!" Chadzmuth ranted.

The court remained silence from Chadzmuth well-constructed argument regarding the fact that Ben was being held on trial by a race of omnipotent species, his words did more than move the court.

Rook slowly clapped his hands in praise, respecting Chadzmuth's speech.

"And now this is where the magic happens," the Galvan whispered to Ben leaning forward.

"Has the universe reached a verdict?" Domstol asked.

One side of the pendulum reached about three-quarters green. However, the opposite end completely red. One. Hundred. Percent.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Ben's heart sank into his stomach while loud, annoying screams of terror filled the air.

"The universe has spoken. And it finds you, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, as guilty as you can be!"

Hearing this, Ben now reached the verge of fainting and abject despair.

"And you, Zax Tan'a'see of Helioplex Seven, have just won! A new star!" Domstol added as two holograms appeared, one displaying a pink, triclops worm alien while the other presented the star he won. The pink alien smiled, apparently surprised that he won a natural sun — a joy that was not shared by Ben.

"I have 'em right where I want em, all part of the plan," Chadzmuth said more confident than ever before, although Ben looked at the Galvan as if questioning the state of his sanity.

"Letting the universe find me guilty was part of your plan!?" Ben seethed his retort with a near-shout.

"My client would like to invoke the Tetramand trial of combat!" Chadzmuth said.

'The what?'

What's the Tetramand Trial of Combat? Never was he well-versed in law, even worse in extraterrestrial laws.

The judge simply nodded his head in agreement as all eyes pointed at Ben.

"Now's your cue, kid," Chadzmuth whispered.

"Yeah, see, it's like this. I can't control what the Omnitrix is going to turn me into."

His explanation riled Chadzmuth's composure, the Galvan turning to Ben with abject shock and a tinge of anger.

"Well, you could've told me that before I hinged your entire case on it!" Chadzmuth quietly shrieked.

"Well, how was I supposed to know you were gonna-"

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" The judge asked, interrupting their secluded bickering.

"Ye-" "No!" Ben and Chadzmuth shouted.

The Galvan motioned Ben to transform. Seeing no other choice but to take the gamble, Ben started dialing his desired alien and slammed the primed device. After a flash of emerald, Four Arms stood in Ben's place to his relief.

"Uh, eh, no. I'm all Tetramand up and ready to…. what do I do exactly?" Four Arms asked his lawyer utterly clueless to his current role.

"As Ben, you had your day in the court and lost. But Tetramands get to fight their accusers," Chadzmuth explained.

"And if the victor wins, he or she passes the trial acquitted of any crimes accused."

Chadzmuth's plan reignited Ben's hopes of legal victory, but Ben's omnipotent accuser won't let that hope burn freely.

"Very well. Then the prosecution summons the Galactic Gladiator."

In an explosion of white nova, another Celestialsapien appeared in the center of the court, hovering in the emptiness of the void. Unlike the other Celestialsapiens, while garbed with pieces of gray armor from Greek design, his helmed head burned like a torch of midnight flame.

"Let the Tetramand trial of combat commence!" The Judge announced immediately after that.

In commencement, the court teleported Four Arms from his pod to the arena, hovering in the emptiness with the Gladiator athwart him.

Without wasting even a second, Four Arms warily braced his guard for combat, but the Galactic Gladiator's inactivity slowly defused his tension. Realizing the critical weakness to Celestialsapiens, and wanting to confirm it, Four Arms drifted closer to the alien, inspecting him with little to no retaliation from the gladiator.

"Hmmm, this is good. Already easy enough to hit a nonmoving target," Four Arms bragged with confidence in his current knowledge of Alien X's weaknesses.

"By the time this is over, the two voices in his head will still be arguing over which way to fall!"

With a cocky smirk, Four Arms then threw a punch at the Gladiator, but his foe teleported directly behind him at the last second. Taken by surprise, Four arms reacted by throwing another punch just for the Gladiator to teleport once again, appearing directly behind Four arms once more. This time, he pounced forward and enwrapped the Tetramand with his own body, letting the mortal struggle for a few seconds before releasing him, then flip-kicked Four Arms up in the air. Following his combo, he warped next to Four Arms once again and punched him, sending him crashing down into the Pod with Rook and Chadzmuth.

Four Arm's head rang with headaches like a blaring siren and his chest pulsing in pain from his wounded pride.

"Aghhhh, man. How am I supposed to fight a guy that can change into anything?" Four arms complained upon realizing he's severely outmatched in his current form the hard way.

"There's nothing in the rules that says you have to stay a Tetramand," Chadzmuth advised.

"Heh, now that changes things."

Four arms slapped the Omnitrix dial and changed into Eye Guy in a green flash.

"I (Eye) am taking you down!" The Opticoid flew up to face the Galactic Gladiator and fired lasers out of every one of his eyes, but then Celestialsapien effortlessly dodged them with casual grace in his flight.

In his desperation for a lifeline, Eye Guy's eyes converged toward his chest, forming a gestalt, giant eye, and channeled all of his energy into the strongest yellow emerald beam he can muster, the beam flying directly at his foe.

However, Galactic Gladiator vanished, rendering Eye Guy's desperate act to waste, teleporting behind Eye Guy and smacked him away, only to appear in Eye Guy's flight trajectory and smacked him again before Ben returned to human form in a flash, irritated and frustrated.

"Not cool, Galactic Gladiator," Ben quipped as he rubbed his back a little from the pain.

"Ben now would be a perfect time to turn into Alien X," Rook urgingly advised in his pod from afar.

"Don't you think I know that?" Ben hit the Omnitrix again. "I would if I could so I-" In a flash of emerald, Atomix stood in Ben's place, unfortunately not the desired solution to this debacle. Much to the disappointment of Rook.

"Ben! Atomix is a formidable alien. But he is no match for a Celestialsapien."

Before Atomix could respond, the Galactic Gladiator appeared before him and punched him so hard that he flew out of court's boundary and into the void beyond.

"Fission firecrackers!"

With a heroic cry, Atomix launched multiple lime-green spheres of energy. Few of the payload made contact with their target, exploding in a scattered show brilliant emerald lights, but after the lights dimmed, the mark appeared unfazed, undamaged.

In an instant, beyond Atomix's scale of perception, the Galactic gladiator choked Atomix by the neck faster than his eyes could see.

"Cease your tomfoolery and fight with honor, child."

"Huh?" Caught off guard, Atomix blinked at The Gladiator's words. Was that condescending irritation he just felt? This guy completely shattered what Ben envisioned of the Gladiator, his visions of him as a calm, stoic warrior.

Shaking off his thoughts, Atomix attempted to heat himself to nuclear-level degrees, hoping to burn his opponent's hand off, but his attempt failed despite heating up to a million degrees.

In response, The Gladiator struck Atomix's solar plexus with a spirit-crushing left uppercut, forcing Atomix to throw his head, his legs, and his arms forward while his body bent in a dangerously acute angle by the stomach.

This day was the first Atomix spilled blood, and it will not be the last. Radioactive green coughed out his lips, his armor cracked with webs from the stomach to spine, and his mind on the verge of blacking out as the darkness already crept the corners of his sight.

As if to demonstrate his distaste, The Gladiator threw Atomix to a small rust-dyed planet, watching Atomix crash into the earth and splash his radioactive lifeblood over the rounded bowl that was the crater.

"Uggghhhh… Not quite potent enough….." He groaned weakly.

Having no choice, gambling all his hopes, Atomix slapped the dial on his chest, praying for the right alien to come in his darkest hour, of which was granted by the hands of fate within the verdant flare.

* * *

Upon transformation, Ben appeared floating within the familiar starlit night, the black veil dotted by the lights of creations extending farther than Ben's eyes could see. Along with two familiar green faces greeting his sight, one representing Alien X's Yin, and the other his Yang. Both representing the dualistic nature of the Celestialsapien mind.

"Ben Tennyson, back so soon?" Serena asked with disappointment.

"Too soon if you ask me," Bellicus chimed.

No matter how many times Ben came here, these two were still as irritating as ever.

"No time for banter I'm fighting for my life….. your lives too! If Alien X loses, the whole universe is lost!" Ben exclaimed with grave panic.

Before any of the two could reply, Ben could hear and see the Galactic Gladiator repeatedly punching his unmoving body.

From within their private realm, Ben could feel the pain accumulating from Alien X, a first for Ben in his strongest form. The pain was just as alien as his chosen form, like tormenting echoes vibrating through waters, lingering like ripples in a still pond, instead of the usual swift bruise and creaking bones followed by the dulling sensation of adrenaline.

"That is the most decisive Celestialsapien I've ever seen," Serena commented after observing her fellow race pounding at them.

"Seconded," Bellicus agreed.

"Are you even listening to me? Right now our lives and the entire universe's lives depend on you two being a little bit decisive."

However, the two personalities of Alien X continued to ignore Ben, shrugging off his voice of reason even in this dire time, while Serena and Bellicus stared at The Galactic Gladiator with curiosity.

"Can one of you just please help me out here…" Ben pleaded before Alien X took another hit that caused Ben to double over and incited the two faces to shudder.

"That actually hurt," Serena said.

"Seconded. I don't like this."

"Then can one of you help me out here? Here's an idea you two can keep on having fun arguing. While I have the keys to Alien X," Ben advised with sarcasm.

"I suppose when you put it that way, it works out. Seconded," Serena said as Bellicus grunted.

"Motion carried."

* * *

However, upon gaining full control of Alien X, the Galactic Gladiator threw a white lance of pure transcendent energy at him. At the last moment, Ben crossed his arms, but it speared through his guard, penetrating past his arm and digging into Alien X's chest through the back.

The force alone shattered the planet obstructing Ben's trajectory into pebbles and dust before plowing Alien X into a nearby planetoid, lying back down in a crater formed from his aching body.

"Ahhhh!" Ben as Alien X cried in pain. He now knew how it felt to receive a lance hotter than the hottest of suns stabbed into his chest.

'Crap, gotta move!' Ben quickly rose up after absorbing the white pike in his body.

The Galactic Gladiator warped before his eyes and followed with another flurry of punches, of which not only did each strike broke the metaphorical bones of Alien X's body without giving even him a chance to retaliate, but also buried Ben deeper and deeper into the grey crust of the second planet supporting his back.

"What's wrong, Hero? Can't handle a little pain!? Where's your valor?!"

Following his taunt, The Galactic Gladiator swung at Ben's jaw with his left, smashed his nose with his right, and his jaw again from below with a high jump kick, launching Ben through the crust. Alien X's body drilled through the earth, leaving a shadowed scar widening to the point any onlooker could see the black line drawn across the planet's equator from the outer realms of space via telescope, or, in this case, the holographic screen in the Galactic Court.

Not wanting to endure more punishment, Alien X teleported, reappearing face to face with his foe and countered with an amateur right hook.

"Heh."

As if mocking Ben's experience, The Gladiator casually backed away with expert finesse, wasting no movement as Ben's flying fist barely brushed his cheek.

"Allow me to show you how a Hero should endure."

And as if to demonstrate the difference between them, he lunged forward with his upper half bent low, striking Alien X's torso with unbelievable might.

Not only that, inside Alien X, The Galactic Gladiator's fist breached the personal realm of Bellicus and Serena and struck Ben in the torso, forcing the boy to double over in immense pain as his bones and organs almost broke from the reverberating impact.

"Huh... didn't know he can do that," Bellicus commented, impressed with the feat of breaching their realm.

"I didn't know _we_ can do that," Serena agreed as they watched Ben keel over with blood spilling from his mouth, clutching his stomach in great pain.

'They can do that!?'

Furious at the duo for not assisting him in his most dire need, Ben coughing blood in his difficult travail to stand his feet, to return to battle.

However, the Galactic Gladiator would not allow the luxury of recovery. Axially spinning his body with overwhelming torque, the celestial warrior generated a black hole with his power, dragging Alien X into the pitch-black void with its gravitational might like a helpless moth to a flame.

Once the gravitating abyss caught Ben in its immaterial grasp, The Gladiator proceeded to give Ben the beating of a lifetime, pain that only the strong can endure. And Ben was not one of them.

Back to the Galactic Court, Rook watched the Galactic Gladiator overwhelming the helpless Ben in close combat through the big screen. Fist by fist, Alien X cried in pain, strike by strike, the blood of twilit night spilled. It was no longer a fight, but an execution, each attack chipping away Rook's hope for Ben's victory.

His hopes finally crumbled when Alien X finally returned to human form, the human Ben held by the throat through the screen, blood trickling from nose and lips and purpled contuses adorning the rest of his body.

The two then warped back into the center of the Galactic Court, presenting Ben raised high to the entire Universe, to display the defeat of the universe's greatest hero to all sentient eyes.

The Galactic Gladiator dropped Ben back to the platform before he raised his right arm in his victory over the Universe's Greatest Hero in fair combat.

"Ben…" Rook uttered with despondent horror.

"I… I lost a case! This can NOT be happening! NOOOOOO!" While Chadzmuth shouted in denial, on the other hand, grabbing his head in pure outrage.

Ben materialized next to Rook bloody and bruised, coughing out blood as Rook helped him to his feet.

"Order! Order in the court. The victor in the Tetramand trial of Combat is The Galactic Gladiator on behalf of the Universe," The Judge said silencing the chaotic chatter in the court via banging of his majestic gavel.

"From what we all just witnessed, Ben was the one who motivated Alien X to recreate the Universe. Therefore, Ben Tennyson is guilty of unauthorized alteration of reality. With Bellicus and Serena guilty by association. Therefore Ben Tennyson is to be banished from this universe as punishment!" Banging his golden gavel, Judge Domstol declared his unexpected yet severe ultimatum.

"What!?" Ben and Rook shouted simultaneously.

"This is unacceptable. I lost my first case!" Chadzmuth shouted at his first loss in his history as a top-tier lawyer while the Galactic Gladiator floated over to Ben and Rook, and looked down on Ben's defeated, bloodied form.

"Human. The fight was below my expectations. You have failed me as a warrior, no, as a hero. You have much to learn if you wish to face me again," he lectured with harsh disdain, breaking apart Ben's already wounded pride and self-esteem.

Ben merely gritted his teeth in response, unable to object to his claims.

The Celestialsapien leaned down to face Ben, face to face.

"You are no Hero. And if you ever use Alien X again, I will make sure you will never play hero again."

For the first time in months, fear struck in Ben's soul. Not casual concern for his safety and well-being, pure, genuine fear, as if gazing into the face of death himself.

"Now it i-"

"Wait."

A familiar voice intervened, cutting off Domstol. Turning to face the source, Ben widened his blackened eyes at the sight of the owner.

"A-Azimuth?" Ben croaked at seeing Azmuth standing on the panel of Starbeard's pod, staring up at the more massive omnipotent being. Azimuth must have teleported here, Ben thought.

"Before you send him off, I wish to speak with Ben in private," Azimuth requested Starbeard with his small hands behind his back.

"Hmmm…" the Celestialsapien looked down at Azimuth for a moment, contemplating his request.

"Very well, Galvan. But make it swift," Starbeard agreed with conditions.

Before he knew it, Azimuth teleported Ben and himself teleported to Galvan Prime, outside of The First Thinker's laboratory.

"Come," Azimuth ordered as Ben gulped from the tension.

'I'm in soo much trouble…' Ben thought.

"So what-"

"No questions, just keep moving," Azimuth interrupted, surprising Ben with his direct order.

Unable to argue, Ben quietly limped behind Azimuth into his private lab, holding his arm with pain stinging from his brutal wounds. The Galactic Gladiator didn't spare Ben a modicum of mercy in his violence, bestowing Ben broken bones, a bleeding nose, a slightly dislocated jaw, etc. Even attempted breathing added fuel to his pain. The best he could do was talk generally in a conversation at this point, the second best being walking.

Galvan II's sun shone through the lime-green glass of the faceted dome ceiling, tinting the room with the same glass color. Their feet stepped on the chrome grey floor, tapping the steel without sound, as Ben perused the lab for one last time, taking in the various machinery and high-tech gadgets and tools strewn around the First Thinker's abode.

Stopping in the center of his lab, Azimuth turned behind and craned his head, facing Ben eye to eye.

"The Omnitrix. Give it to me."

"Wha, why?"

"Just give it to me."

Ben frowned and extended his bruised arm to Azimuth. Teleporting onto Ben's Omnitrix in a brief green flash, Azimuth, with practiced skill, opened the faceplate, revealing the watch's internal circuitry to the creator.

"What are you doing?" Ben asked.

"Originally, I wish to bide my time, but after the recent turn of events, and with some convincing to cull my reluctance, I've decided to reinstate the evolutionary function in your Omnitrix," Azimuth explained.

His revelation both shocked and relieved Ben of his worries, his fears of Azimuth confiscating his watch annulled.

Tinkering with the device, a component warped into Azimuth's hand. He placed it inside the Omnitrix's faceplate; the segment merged with the alien circuitry like ice melting into a towel.

"W-why are you doing this for me?" Ben asked, never before seeing Azimuth this magnanimous.

Azimuth merely looked up from Ben's wrist.

"Because the Omnitrix is safe only in your hands. With that in mind, I cannot permit your exile with full knowledge of the dangers within the new universe. So I deemed you in need of a decent handicap," Azimuth chuckled.

"Th-Thanks... I don't know what to say," Ben thanked awkwardly, inspecting the upgraded Omnitrix.

The Omnitrix was the same as before, except its circuit lines evolved in complexity along with a more refined lumen verdant gleam.

"N-Now that you mention it, where am I heading anyways?"

Azimuth rubbed his chin, pondering on how to answer.

"All I'm allowed to say is, a world like Earth, summarily put in the words of Professor Paradox."

The name of the infamous Time Traveler widened Ben's eyes.

"What? Like a different timeline?"

"No. Not exactly. There are humans, yes, but don't expect the natives to be like you."

"Then-"

But before Ben could utter another word, Starbeard than appeared directly behind Ben.

"Ben Tennyson. The time has come."

Hearing the mighty Celestialsapien, Ben turned around and hung his head low, sighing in abject reluctance.

"Alright, I won't resist. Go ahead and get this over with."

"Ben," Azimuth called. Ben turned around to see the little Galvan give him a small smile.

"May fortune guide your path."

Ben smiled back at his words, but he then frowned knowing that he may never see those he loved again. Then Ben and Starbeard vanished, rematerializing inside a random alleyway.

The stonework was akin to that of earth's, red bricks stacked and stuck together by cement, the odorous stench of acrid urine and trash, along with the foreboding shadows creeping the corners under the afternoon sun.

After moving his body around a little, Ben realized that the Omnipotent Alien had healed his wounds. His breath now clean and stable, the bitter taste and coppery stench of crimson iron no longer present along with the pulsing pain plaguing his muscles.

"Can you at least tell me what I'm in for here?" Ben meekly asked, not wanting to incur the being's wrath.

"Great challenges and rewards await you, Ben Tennyson. Lessons long overdue in a place like home, but not home." Starbeard cryptically answered.

Before Ben could ask any more questions, the Celestialsapien vanished.

"Hey, wait!" He barely moved a few steps before he stopped, all energy drained from his spirit once the silence settled. Along with the burdening realization that he was now truly alone, lost and without direction and purpose, without any way to contact his friends and family back on Earth. _His_ Earth.

Downcast, Ben pressed his back against the moss-infected wall, letting gravity take hold as he slowly slid to his rear.

What should he do, Ben wondered, trapped in an unknown realm, with no food, no money, nothing. How should he even start? What _can_ he do?

Ben's self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of people screaming, causing him to look down the alleyway. He ran out into the street to see a quadrupedal creature about the size of Humungousaur constituted of concrete.

"...it does look like another Earth," Ben mumbled, taking in his surroundings in his attempt to quell his growing unease.

"I'M THE CONCRETE CRUSHER BLEH. I GOT THIS WAY AFTER WORKING TOO MUCH OVERTIME IN CONSTRUCTION, BLEH!" The mysterious being roared with belligerence.

'...what?'

That was one of the dumbest names Ben ever heard. But that was beside the point. The real question was, what in God's name was happening before him?

Civilians scattering like frightened mice and devastation spreading in the thing's wake, the scene reminded Ben of the usual villains causing mayhem in Bellwood, but three times dumber.

"And I thought Ben 23's names were bad," Ben muttered to himself.

"My universe or not, IT'S HERO TIME!" Ben shouted.

 **It is still a shame that SpaceEngineer643 quit. I am looking for another writer or editor to help bring this series to a fruitful end, and help balance the strengths and respect between the two stories since I favor One Punch Man slightly more over Ben 10.**

 **Edit: By 11/10/2018, still no one capable has volunteered. ; _;**

 **Edit edit edit: What do you think of the new and improved Chapter one? I'm still going to edit chapter one. It turns out; I realized that it needs more cleaning before it turned out perfect.**


	2. Chapter 2: Banished

"IT'S HERO TIME!"

With his iconic catchphrase, Ben selected his chosen alien and slammed the Omnitrix dial, replacing his form with another inside the flashing green.

"Gravattack!" Ben shouted with valor.

In Ben's place, Gravattack stood, a rusty red, rock alien floating to Concrete Crusher across the street.

"What kinda name is Concrete Crusher? Got straight Fs in Language Class or something?" Gravattack called to the monster, catching its attention to him.

"Bleh, who said that?"

Concrete Crusher turned his endowed, concrete head towards Ben.

"That would be me," Gravattack ostentatiously declared, prepared for a full-on brawl. However, an outrageous statement spouted from the monster's big jawed mouth.

"Huh?! You may be a fellow monster, but I'll grind you for that insult!"

'Monster?'

His assumption stunned Gravattack to silence for a few seconds. Monster? Did it call itself a monster? Not an Alien?

"Dude, seriously? A monster? I'm an alien," Gravattack corrected. Still, a monster?

The term 'monster' was subjective as far as Ben knew.

"Huh?! Ahahahahaha! If you are an 'Alien,' then I am the Martian's Secret Guinea Pig! Now Die, Alien poser!" The monster declared mockingly after hearing Ben's statement, stampeding its quadrupedal body towards Ben in a fit of rage.

'Okay, so not an alien. A native? Mutant?' Ben mused in thought, self-guessing the monster's race.

Before it can reach Ben, Galilean's hand illumined verdant green, lifting the monster into the air via his gyrokinesis.

"O-Oi! I'm flying?! What did you do?!"

Not answering, Gravattack swung down his hand, increasing the gravity around the mutant tenfold which resulted in Concrete Crusher crashing down to the earth like a rock from a high place. Gravattack lifted his arm and repeated his act, slamming the poor mutant into the ground again, and again, and again, forcing a scream every time he crashed the earth.

"Aghhh! Traitor! HERETIC! The others will hunt you down for this!" The monster accused and cursed as cracks infected his body, chunks of stone chipping off him.

Ben's left Galilean eye twitched in irritation.

"I was never 'one of you' in the first place, buddy."

Gravattack lifted him again, ready to disable the stone thing, but before he could, the concrete 'monster' spontaneously exploded into fine-powdered dust, his corpse clouding the scene before Gravattack.

"...did I do that?" Gravattack asked himself, staring at the shifting grey in confusion.

After the powdered grey faded, a bald man stood in Concrete Crusher's place, or what was left of him. His garb was a yellow suit, white cape, and boots and gloves colored red, while his steaming fist smoked as if it once caught fire without the flames.

Ben mused at the baldy's shiny chrome dome, possibly the shiniest lightbulb he'd ever seen from a bald person. Overall, the man screamed 'average,' a regular, but queer individual at first glance.

While Ben took in his appearance, the man's face shifted from deadpan to that of extreme disappointment.

'That's the most ridiculous outfit I've ever seen.' Ben thought upon absorbing the sight of the bald man's outfit. It was much, much worse than even the Galactic Enforcers' uniforms.

"All it took was one punch… DAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" The bald man shouted to the sky.

Stunned, Gravattack beheld the stunning spectacle with a metaphorical sweat trickling his stony hide, wondering why he screamed out of nowhere.

Disregarding his unpredictable actions, after hitting his Omnitrix dial, Ben returned to human form in a lumen flash.

Back to solving Concrete Crusher's death, Ben inspected the baldy. He acted as if he killed the 'monster,' but was unconvinced due to his… average, cheap visage. His only outstanding feature, having no notable features.

Convinced another did the deed, Ben scouted his surroundings in search for the actual killer but found none else except baldy.

'Uhhh.'

Ben's mind still refused to process that the bald man was indeed the one that finished the monster.

"Hey, you! Can you tell me how that monster died?!" Ben yelled at the bald man, his shout snapping him out of his dilemma.

His deadpan mask returned upon facing Ben.

"Hm? I punched it," the bald man deadpanned.

"..." Ben narrowed his eyes, attempting to discern signs of lying.

"Who are you, again?"

"I'm Saitama; I'm the guy who's a hero for fun." The baldy named Saitama answered with his very… bland face.

"For fun? I'm a hero because it's right," Ben mildly disagreed with his choice of words.

Saitama shrugged in response. Sure one can have fun while being a hero, hell, even Ben had too much fun as a hero in his younger years, but Ben hoped that pure amusement wasn't his only drive.

"Really? Well, I do take my job very seriously if that's what you're thinking," the Bald man awkwardly replied.

Ben is not sure how seriously the man meant though.

"Oh, I guess when you put it that way, it makes sense."

Then he remembered Saitama's claims of 'supposedly' defeating the monster… out of nowhere. Now that Ben parsed it over, he could not detect the bald man's presence in his battle.

"Who are you, again?" Saitama asked, bouncing Ben's question back.

"Oh, right. I'm Ben Tennyson. Wielder of the Omnitrix."

Ben didn't bother asking if the man had heard of him, or bother to explain his watch to him, keeping his foreign immigrant status to himself. Besides, the guy looked like he couldn't remember the events of yesterday even if Armageddon ravaged the Earth.

"Eh? What's an Omnitrix?" Saitama tilted his head in predictable confusion.

"I don't think you'd understand if I explain. So, see the watch here on my wrist?"

Ben pointed at it.

"It allows me to turn into different aliens, so-"

"Wait. You mean, you were the other monster that was fighting what's-his-face?" Saitama asked, surprising Ben with his keen perception, his noticing of Gravattack.

"Yeah, but not a monster. An Alien," Ben corrected.

"Is there a difference?" Saitama asked as if he had never met any aliens in his life.

"Well, depends on perspective, but yes there's a big difference. For one, Aliens don't have terrible names like Concrete Crusher."

Or at least, he hoped that the Aliens here don't have names as bad or worse than that of that guy's.

"Can't tell since I never met an alien — one that does not want to hurt people. I think. Hard to tell."

Saitama simply shrugged in nonchalance. Ben pursed his lips at the overused terminology, 'monster.'

"Do these… 'monsters' always want to hurt people in your world?" Ben asked, his knowledge of monsters here critically nonexistent.

They almost remind him of Dr. Animo's mutated animals in some way.

"Yeah, nobody knows where they're from; only that they want humans dead, break buildings, or something ridiculous like ruling the world."

Ben frowned. The regular attacks from aliens in Bellwood were criminals, but rarely ever sought to kill people and cause mass destruction, only to enhance their wealth or power although the desire to rule the world was an iconic trait they share at least.

His thoughts were reminding him of his dilemma; Ben decided to ask Saitama for a place to stay. Somewhere he can start anew.

"So… I'm not exactly from here so I was wondering if you could help me find a place to stay?"

Saitama cupped his chin in deep thought, his expression still utterly static.

"Well, around my place the apartments are very cheap. It is very secluded though, as I have no neighbors there for some reason." Saitama offered, recalling his cheap apartment.

"How cheap?" Ben asked, surprised that the bald man was living with no neighbors.

"Enough to get by with minimum wage I think."

"Take me there. I think I have a way to pay the rent." Ben asked as he needs a place to live first before determining Saitama's truth in taking down monsters with a punch.

"Ok," Saitama said, motioning Ben to follow him into the 'ghost town' of Z City.

 **-Later-**

The environment could be best depicted as the apocalyptic aftermath of a nuclear war. Before Ben was cars warped into mangled versions of their pristine state, shattered glass littering their sidewalk along with various broken window, tendrils of cracks infecting the pavement, a few occasional craters, and scorched concrete replacing their untarnished counterpart.

The state of the road was not what Ben expected to see, but now he understood why the rent was cheap. No one in their right minds wished to live in such a neighborhood.

"Wait, y-you live here?" Ben asked in mild disbelief.

"Yeah. Why?" The baldy sounded as if the brutalized state of the neighborhood was inconsequentially normal.

"Really? You're not messing with me?"

"...no?" Saitama raised a brow, confused by Ben's sense of disbelief.

"Why is there... so much destruction here? This place looks like a war zone!" Ben quipped as he pointed around their devastated panorama, ruin and charred stone dominating their view as far as their eyes can see.

"Well, I did fight with monsters here daily around… a year ago? Or is it two? Whatever."

Saitama's vague answer and evident poor memory only instilled growing unease within Ben, displayed by his gawking at Saitama.

"Okay… then the people must've fled. That makes sense… are there still monsters here?"

Ben did not want monsters to assassinate him in his sleep, or worse, eat him in his sleep. He never considered the possibility of assassination back home since his normal life was safe without incident so far.

"Hmmm. Don't think so. They just stopped popping up here for some reason. Anyways, we are here." Saitama said as he pointed at the apartment building that was his home.

The building was unspoiled, unlike the others, mostly intact around the viewed exterior. It was a rectangular cubic apartment, with a column of balconies stacked atop one another floor by floor.

"Follow me." Saitama urged as he headed towards the flight of stairs leading up the second floor.

Ben followed without another word, his eyes still stuck to the building. It was so out of place, sticking out like a sore thumb in contrast with its ruined inanimate kin.

Following Saitama to his humble abode, Ben inspected the interior.

"Wow, I mean, how come this place is still standing compared with the rest?"

White plastered walls and wooden planks adorned the majority of his home's theme, an utterly mundane establishment in design with enough room for around two to three occupants. Even Saitama's furniture and room decorations are simple, a reflection of the baldy's frugal nature.

"I have to keep the monsters away from here from time to time before. Can't have my apartment wrecked in my first year here, you know?"

Ben tried to picture Saitama defending his home. He failed. He just couldn't find the baldy even capable of protecting his home from such threats.

"Anyways, welcome to my home. I can call the landlord if you want to rent one of the apartments here," Saitama offered.

"Cool. But before that, I need to make some money," Ben said as he activated the Omnitrix. He dialed up his desired alien and slammed his hand onto the dial.

" **Diamondhead**!" The Petrosapien appeared with his heroic cry.

In Ben's place stood a two-meter tall crystalline being. His bulky, crystal body was pale green, most of his body covered by a bright green jumpsuit as a bonus.

However, despite witnessing Ben's alien transformation for the first time, Saitama showed utterly no interest whatsoever even though someone transformed into another being before his very eyes.

"Why do you shout out the names of your aliens?"

Of all the questions, that was the one Saitama asked, unlike the other first-timers Ben encountered in his world.

"What? That's it? You're not gonna ask about my aliens or something?" Diamond asked, his previous voice replaced by a deep, masculine tone, slightly surprised by his apathy to his alien transformation.

"Why?"

"...okay."

Diamondhead rubbed his neck sheepishly as he returned to Saitama's first question.

"Well, I shout to strike fear into the villains."

"It has become a habit, doesn't it?" Saitama sharply asked, seeing through his bluff.

"...Yes. I just like doing it. Anyways, in case you're wondering, Diamondhead can form diamond-like crystals, which can sell for a very high price. I can pawn them off for rent money for now at least," Diamondhead informed.

With straining concentration, dozens of pale green crystals grew out of his back and clattered to the floor, each sharp and roughly amorphous in appearance and feel.

While Diamondhead continued to cheat more money into existence, Saitama scrutinized Ben's new form with slight curiosity this time.

"So… this is an alien?" Saitama asked.

So the Baldy was finally interested this time, Ben thought.

"Yes, he is. A powerful alien to be exact. His body is one of the toughest in the galaxy," he proudly stated.

Indeed, his race was very durable, proven in his battles against Vilgax and the other villains he faced ever since he was ten.

"Oh?" His claim fed fuel to Saitama's flickering hopes.

Wishing to test Ben's claim, the bald man picked up one of the crystals between his red fingers. Pressing his thumb into the diamond-like gem with a bit of force, to Saitama's disappointment, it snapped in half like a Kit-Kat bar, dowsing the glowing embers of hope in steaming displeasure.

"So much for that," Saitama grumbled as he tossed the shard to Diamondhead's feet.

'Okaaay, so he might be stronger than he looks.'

He does not know Diamondhead's upper-density limits, but Saitama broke that shard with little to no effort, enforcing his previous claim in defeating the Concrete Crusher.

However, Ben was still unconvinced as Saitama's appearance does not match his strength. Thus, he decided to test the baldy's level the only way he knew how.

"Saitama, I want to ask you for a little favor."

"Hm? Favor?"

"Would you, like, hit me a little?" Ben decided to test Saitama's strength using Diamondhead's high-density body to determine his actual power. No matter how many times he tried to picture it, Ben cannot process that Saitama claims of his supposed feats given his appearance and habits. The Caped Baldy's just too average for that level in Ben's eyes.

"...why?"

"Well, I wanna test Diamondhead's limits, you know? You seem like a strong guy."

Ben had no idea what he signed up for.

"Uhh, are you sure you want that?" Saitama asked as if genuinely concerned.

"Yep. Very. Can you do it here now or-"

Without warning, something cut Diamondhead off via indescribable pain spearing through his stomach, knocking all of his metaphorical air from his crystal stomach as he coughed in pain, an agony he had never felt before since… he didn't know.

"URK!"

Attempting to clutch his stomach, Diamondhead looked down to see Saitama's familiar red glove lodged deep into his stomach, dangerously deep. Saitama's arm penetrated through his guy by the elbow, spreading infecting cracks throughout his supposedly indestructible body, and when Saitama tore his arm out, the cracks spread out even further nearly reaching his neck.

The force from Saitama's punch was more than enough to make Diamondhead clutch his stomach with his two hands -and dropped to his knees- before spitting out teydanite shards in place of vomit from his mouth.

Ben can even feel every dangerously audible crack forming from the center of impact, reaching even his shoulders and thighs… this is the most severe damage he ever received as Diamondhead in his life. Not only that, like the metaphorical air in his lungs, his strength escaped his body as well like helium from a deflating balloon.

"So? You good?"

Ben regretted testing Saitama and now wanted to kick his own butt for not believing him from before. Hell, he wished to berate himself for even underestimating someone based on appearance alone, a critical badge of shame for every foolish hero.

"Ugh… Yeah, I'm- blegh!" He spat out more Teydanite vomit shards onto the floor, adding more to the clattering pile.

"I'm, uh, good. Oh man. Urgh!"

Diamondhead continued vomiting to his heart's content, which lasted for more than five minutes - after the spasming urge to empty his bowels finally disappeared, a pile of taydenite now laid between their feet.

After that, Diamondhead finally hit the dial on his chest, reverting to human form - although the pain persisted in his gut as if someone blasted a phantom hole in it.

Saitama, on the other hand, picked up one of the vomit shards and inspected it again.

"How much do these things cost again?" Saitama asked

"How much is are diamonds worth in your world?" Ben asked back. Ben was unsure on the exact measurement of its durability compared to that of diamonds', but Taydenite should be many times harder at least. Probably fifty or something.

Saitama cupped his chin in deep thought.

"No idea. Only one way to find out. Want to come with and help me sell these?" Saitama suggested.

"Eh? Sure."

They exited the apartment, Saitama first with Ben behind him.

Since that day, another soul lived resided his neighborhood, keeping the loneliest hero company from then on.

* * *

Ben's newest abode was precisely identical to that of Saitama' on the layout.

"It works, I suppose," Ben muttered to himself. Simple furniture that fulfilled his needs, working electricity and plumbing, a bed, a bathroom, and a kitchen adjacent to the living room. He even purchased a television alongside a game console, the most popular ones, two of which he could always tamper with using the abilities of Brainstorm or Grey Matter, or their Ultimate versions to augment his electrical appliances as he pleases.

Tired from his long day, the shapeshifting teen dropped his butt onto his bed, sitting there for several minutes as he attempted to parse over the events that occurred the last several hours.

When he and Saitama sold the teydanite to the local jewelry store, the owner demanded where they found the material, and even asked if he can buy the rights of the discovery from Ben - which he allowed since he had not a single care about money. However, Ben had to question Saitama on the topic of Yen a little, since he was more used to the S-shaped dollar signs than the Y version. He noted that one hundred yen was the rough equivalent of one hundred cents, a good reference for his simple memory.

Thus, Ben acquired more than enough 'yen' to survive for months. Maybe years if he rationed, which might never happen considering he was a teenager that wished to live his life.

"Now how am I gonna make my way here? I could be stuck here for years," Ben murmured to himself as he pondered on the supposed duration of his stay in this world.

'Meh, I can deal with this later.' Ben thought as he decided to turn on his newly bought TV after he set it up by himself.

"[Breaking news, there are reports of destruction in City-]"

Hearing the news of the city-wide destruction already, Ben's gave all his attention to the screen with a sharp focus.

"[The threat appeared in the City is assumed Demon Level. We have a live feed from the location now!]"

Them the scene changed with a construction worker at the scene, describing the stage under the buffeting typhoon before the live feed suddenly cut off. Most likely from hazardous causes.

'No rest for heroes in any world, I suppose.' Ben thought as he clothed himself in his favorite clothes and readied himself for departure.

"It's hero time!"

Once outside the balcony - with one alien set in mind - Ben slammed the Omnitrix.

" **Astrodactyl**!" The pterodactyl-like alien took flight, his wings slicing through the air; heading off to the devastated landscape as swiftly as his abilities allowed.

After a few hours of high-speed flight through the sky, the entire, untainted blue spoiled by shrouding plumes of morbid grey in complement of the ruin city's setting, the metropolis in question entered the alien's view. was in ruins, and bodies of men lied upon the rubble, though the one he glossed over wore strange costumes. Astrodactyl marked them off as cosplayers, unfortunate ones caught in the splash zone.

"Sheesh, what could've caused this," Astrodactyl muttered.

His eyes focused on a purple humanoid shape in the distance. When he got closer, it was a muscular, purple-skinned being with two antennas on its head. And it was walking towards a crying little girl, stretching its arm towards the girl in a friendly handshake in Ben's eyes. Only to be proven wrong when the hand expanded to demonic proportions, ready to crush the girl in its grasp.

"Oh no!" He shouted worriedly. He flew as fast as he could, diving like a hawk to his prey, and managed to swipe the little girl away from the monster just before his hand crushed her in his grip.

"Wahhhhhhh! Why are you doing this to me?!"

However, instead of the usual praise Ben usually received back home, girl sobbed, mired in further terror, mistaking her savior for a monster like the purple man.

"I'm saving you!"

"Wahhh... eh?"

Astrodactly set the little girl down several blocks away while she was still stunned by his answer.

"Run, hide kid; it's not safe here." The little girl paused, unsure how to respond, until she saw the purple monster levitating towards her. Nodding in fear, she sprinted away, looking back once as the pteradon monster gazing upwards at the levitating purple man. The purple monster landed in front of Ben, fracturing the street, and responded Ben's gaze with one of condescendence.

"Now what do we have here? Did my eyes deceive me when you saved the child? Without killing it?" Hearing this, Ben fired a green beam of energy from his beak, staggering the monster a few paces with his surprise attack.

"What kind of freak do you take me for? So what are you and why are you trashing the city?" Astrodactyl demanded.

"Hm? Oh… Ahahahaha! A monster playing hero?! Marvelous! I am Vaccine Man, Mother Earth's Apostle. I am here to exterminate the human race by the will of the planet herself."

"What?" Ben could not parse the last sentence, or his ridiculous moniker at that. What kind of person named himself Vaccine Man?

"I see you're uneducated or was born under a rock. Allow me to enlighten you. Humans are polluting the Earth to the brink of complete ecosystem collapse, poisoning nature in their desire for blind, callous progress. Thus, like the infestation they are, I shall exterminate them like the vermin they are."

"So your answer is to kill them off? Totally not cool, dude."

Of all the villain speeches, this one was by far the most crazy and ludicrous. Even Aminos speech was more sane than his.

"Ignorant creature, I was specifically born from the pollution caused by the humans!"

"So what? You are no better than them if you kill them off," Astrodactyl rebuked.

"You don't get it, do you? I was MADE to kill them. Eradicating humans is my purpose given to me from Mother Earth herself. Saying that I am no different than them is a heretical insult to the planet you are standing on, worm!" Vaccine man finalized as he conjured energy spheres around him.

"And you! You are protecting these vermin! Thus, making you no different than the humans I am destined to eradicate!"

And then he fired the spheres at Ben before he can react.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

"Ooof! Ow ow ow!" He mumbled while being blasted through multiple buildings, the latter of which lost their foundations and collapsed onto him in concrete and dust. Buried, but alive, the alien dug himself out of the rubble with minor difficulty, rubbing his feathered head to console his pain.

"Ughhh, definitely not the alien for the job," Astrodactyl mumbled, managing to gather the strength to hit the Omnitrix dial.

" **Humungousaur**!" The Vaxasaurian shouted.

Vaccine man seemed mildly surprised upon seeing another being emerge from the wreckage, but upon seeing the green hourglass dial on the creature's chest…

"Hm? My, how unexpected. You can alter forms?" Vaccine Man realized that it was the same person he just blasted away.

Humungousaur, however, charged toward Vaccine Man in response. In reception, Vaccine Man conjured even more energy spheres and fired them in illuminating swarms without care. Each blast moderately scorched the vaxasaurian's hide, blackening his orange skin to the point of charcoal.

'Ugh, this one's tough…' Humungousaur grimly thought as he raised his arms to guard against Vaccine Man's spheres. Compared to the enemies Ben fought in his world, the ones here seem to be much more dangerous and severe as he tried to slam his Omnitrix Dial again.

" **Ultimate Humungousaur**!" Now he was 20 meters tall; his skin shifted to dark green, his leather skin bedecked with had numerous armored plates.

"Let's see how you like me now, tiny!" Ben quipped as he morphed his hands into two quadric barrels.

"Tiny? Ahahahahahahahahaha!"

To prove his foe wrong, he begun his own transformation in return, morphing in a more monstrous being with legs morphed to that of a T-Rex's, hands transformed to claws capable of shredding metals, eyes distorted into monstrous sanguine, and teeth converted into long, atrocious fangs as his size almost rivals that of Ultimate Humongosaur's.

In summary, Vaccine Man morphed into a nightmarish version of a T-Rex, with a face that screamed 'eat all humans.'

"Oh...You're still smaller though." Ultimate Humungousaur soon regretted his words, as an even larger sphere of energy formed between each row of white, sharp fangs outlining Vaccine Man's gums before launching it at Ben.

*KABOOM*

The blast alone seared his chest greatly to near char black as he flew crashing into the rubble again, leaving him groaning in pain, a lot of pain.

"Owwww…" Ultimate Humungousaur groaned. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to rise back to his own two feed, preparing an attack of his own as he aimed his arsenal at Vaccine Man's monstrous form. He fired dozens upon dozens of missiles from his hands — all of them striking Vaccine Man solely in the face. When the dust cleared, the monster had multiple broken teeth and was bleeding from the nose.

"I felt that… a little." Vaccine mocked in a monstrous voice.

"There's more where that came from!" Ultimate Humungousaur fired another swarm of missiles as he charged forward. He spun around, whacking Vaccine man into a partially collapsed skyscraper with his tail. The purple monster emerged from the rubble, flying towards Ben. He tackled Ben to the ground and started to rapidly swiped his face with his monstrous claws, cleaving semi-deep into his flesh. Ultimate Humungousaur responded with a headbutt, stunning the monster for a few seconds. Vaccine Man staggered back, clutching a wound on his chest.

"You're remarkably strong for a worm. But this ends here vermin, I w-*SPLAT*"A massive smack and an explosion of Vaccine Man's purple flesh cut him off as blood erupted from his body. Confused by the spontaneous event, when the shower of guts and gore ended, sunlight illuminated upon the person revealing it to be Saitama, standing there with his fist smoking. The man's blank face twisted into that of anger as he stared at his fist for a moment.

"One punch... It ended in one punch again… God damn it!" The bald man fell on his hands and knees as he screamed to the sky.

Ben remained speechless from the scene before him, dumbfounded by how casually the bald man effortlessly ended the fight as if it was a daily routine.

'Again... He did it again…' Ben thought as he stood there in his Ultimate form dazed at Saitama screaming to the sky about his troubles…and that he just ended the monster that destroyed half the city in one punch.

'...He was definitely serious when he said he takes his job seriously…' Ben thought as he shuddered a little remembering the time he asked Saitama to punch him.

"Okay so….. Now, since that's over with, what do we do now?" Ultimate Humungousaur asked. Saitama roused from his 'crisis,' turned up to look at what seems to be a makeshift dark green skinned human-dinosaur hybrid.

"Is that you Ben? You sure grew up fast," Saitama asked sizing Ben's alien form.

"Ahaha, that is one way to say it. This guy's one of my stronger alien forms. I call him Humungousaur," Ben answered.

"Oh, ok," Saitama deadpanned, his interest flushed away like the water in the toilet the next second as he rose back up to his boots.

"I'm gonna go now. Need to catch a bargain sale today, or they'll sell out. See ya." Saitama said as he walked away the next second later, casually leaving Ultimate Humungousaur alone in the ruined city.

Before Ben can react to his personality and…unique behavior, a sudden scream of terror grated the air.

"Eeeeek! MONSTER!" A woman, one of the surviving civilians, yelled pointing at the stout, bipedal dinosaur closely described as the child of a Brachiosaurus and a giant turtle standing on two legs.

'Oh, crap.'

Ben forgot. Saitama said aliens never landed here, only terrorizing monsters. Thus, if anyone caught sight of Ben, in one of his alien forms, what would happen - a mistake that could end in disaster.

He then ran to a safe area as he shrunk himself, and hid amongst the ruined skyscrapers in a deserted city. After making sure no one is around him, Ben then hit the Omnitrix dial, returning to his human form in a flash of emerald green.

"How am I gonna do my job if people think I'm a monster?" Ben muttered to himself. He emerged from the ruined skyscraper as he cupped his chin to think of his next move.

"I should take a look around the city."

 **-Later-**

Saitama stood in line for the sale he was so eager to participate. He had enough coupons to get him enough food for the next week or so. That was, of course, assuming he was on his own. It was finally his turn to check out. The others in the supermarket gave funny looks upon seeing his outfit. As Saitama fumbled around in his wallet, he failed to notice that the lights were flickering, and the building was shaking.

'I hope I brought all I need this time.' He mumbled as he lazily fiddled around with his money. As the store kept shaking, the people inside started to panic and fled.

"I have 92 yen," Saitama said. When he looked up, everyone was gone. He looked around, to see if anyone else was in the store. Finally, there was a loud crash as something crushed the front end of the store. Saitama slowly turned around, frowning a little when he realized that it was once again another monster attack. He dropped his groceries and stepped outside. There was an enormous footprint that destroyed a sizeable portion of the city's perimeter. Looking over City D, Saitama saw a massively muscled man covered in armored plates.

"I am the strongest man. I am the strongest man." The giant's voice boomed over a long distance. Saitama barely took notice to a small red creature following behind it in the sky, ignoring it's actively firing green beams of energy at the giant.

 **On Ben's Side…**

'Holy crap, this guy's huge!' Ben thought while following the mega giant in the form of Jetray.

The giant is enormous, even way bigger than Way Big. The guy seemed even bigger than the warp gate the Highbreed used to transport their fleet to Earth when they were still hostile. He might be able to crush Way Big with his bulky fists, and possibly tank Way Big's super laser as well.

But his hopes were shattered a little when the giant swung his hand, creating a wind pressure strong enough to destroy a suitable plot of City D.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Amazing, brother! Thousands have perished! Now march into the city and slaughter the rest of them!"

Ben then heard a voice from the giant's right shoulder. Looking at the owner of the sound, Ben sees a skinny pale white-robed scientist with wrinkles over his face holding an almost empty test tube full of drops of musky rainbow liquid.

'Who is that guy? Wait…' Ben then saw a familiar white caped bald man with a ridiculously shiny head on the left shoulder.

'Saitama?! When did he get there?! How!?' Ben thought surprised to see him there as he flew over to him.

"Saitama, what are you doing here?!" Jetray landed next to Saitama, seeing him sitting casually on the monster's shoulder.

"Oh, Ben? I saw this big guy walking over the city. But he also ruined the supermarket…. So yeah." Saitama gave his two cents to his situation, causing Ben to sweat drop on Saitama's choice of words.

"Anyways, I'll try to stop him. This guy can't be stronger than Way Big." Ben as Jetray hit the Omnitrix dial.

" **Echo Echo!** " The Sonorosian looked at himself in disappointment.

"Uhh, that guy doesn't look Way Big to me," Saitama commented seeing Ben now smaller than before.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. I could still work with this." He hit the Omnitrix dial again.

" **Ultimate Echo Echo!** " After changing into a more humanoid form, the Hyper evolved Sonorosian took flight. He hovered in front of the giant man.

"Little brother, there's some robot on your left should! Smash him into a bloody paste with your might!"

Hearing the other man's statement, Ben detached multiple sonic disks from his body as they duplicated to form a neat row of discs in front of the monster.

" **Sonic Cascade**!" He along with his disks emitted powerful sound waves that caused the giant to stagger back in pain. He clenched at his ears as he attempted to block out the sound.

"Big brother! What is happening?"

"Focus, little bro! He's just a little hunk of metal, crush him!" The monster snapped out of his pain and clapped as hard as he could. The massive surge of air smacked Ultimate Echo Echo from the sky and to the ground, digging a long trench from the force as he skidded along the ground.

"Oh and kill that guy on your shoulder too." The scientist said. However, the giant man ironically smacked his right shoulder, where his big brother was. The giant looked at his hand, only to widen his eyes upon seeing the remains of his brother in his giant hand.

"BROTHEEEERRRRRRRRR! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! I ONLY WANTED TO BE THE STRONGEST MAN ALIVE!" The monster roared as he clutched his hand from emotional pain. He then turned to his other shoulder, seeing Saitama grinning stupidly at his tragedy as if mocking him (though unintentionally). Angered by his face, he grabbed ahold of Saitama from his shoulder as Ben watched the whole scene unfold.

"I don't know who you are, but it's your fault my brother is dead!" The monster threw Saitama through an intact Skyscraper, collapsing it in the process. Then the giant leaped high into the air, landing on top of Saitama. The force of the impact uprooted buildings many kilometers away. He then punched the crater Saitama was in as fast and hard as he could.

"Behold my brotherly power!" The giant's fists formed after images from their speed as he rapidly punched the area where he threw Saitama. Ultimate Echo Echo watched from a safe distance as the giant, while not as strong as Way Big, is undoubtedly much more mobile and faster. Ultimate Echo Echo helplessly watched as buildings flew up high into the air until the giant stopped pounding the floor as he slowly rose up from the rubble, and levitated to the sky to see what happened...only to see a giant hole in place of the one pristine city.

'Oh... no…'

The sight of the artificial chasm defeated all of Ben's hope for the baldy's survival, drowned by discouragement by the size and girth of the cratering pit. Not a single sound came from Ultimate Echo Echo, leaving only the giant's echoing respiration to fill the deathly silence.

"I… Am the strongest."

And he might be. The guy was bigger and more agile than Way Big, so much in fact that Ben wondered if Ultimate Way Big could even stand up to this guy. However, he had no choice. It was either that or the rest of the cities endure similar fates, crushed without a single vestige of resistence.

"So what if I am the strongest...it feels so empty."

"I know, right?"

Ultimate Echo Echo's ears caught the indifferent words of a bored, bald man from the hole, as something jumped out from the seemingly bottomless pit shrouded in dust. When the dust dispersed, Saitama was revealed rising towards the giant, and then…

*BOOM*

Punched the giant's left cheek, leaving a bleeding crater in its face as blood and teeth fell from its mouth.

"Having overwhelming power… is pretty boring actually."

Ben heard Saitama said after defeating the giant in one punch… again. Ben froze, taking in the sight of the bald man ending even a threat of this magnitude in one punch once more.

"Oh," Saitama said later as what soon came after was…

*BOOM*

Hearing the loud sound, Ben then turned to see… the titan landing on another nearby city, crushed out of existence.

"...Oh. Crap." Ben is not sure what to make of this… besides letting it be someone else's problem for now. 'Time to go home I guess.' Ben thought.

When he returned home, he watched the news regarding the destruction of B and D City by the giant, and how the Hero Association was trying to spearhead the construction effort promising to rebuild the city better than before.

 **Days later…**

Bearded worker stared at the holographic screen in mild shock. Days ago, A dragon level threat and a demon level threat were both defeated by what appeared to be another monster. On the screen were three monsters — one that looked like an ancient avian creature while another bore the semblance of a brown bipedal dinosaur. And another that was a blue robot. All with the same symbol on their bodies...

"Any other reports of a monster on monster battles?" The bearded worker asked one of the staff members.

"Not that we know of. One thing for sure is that they seem to be on our side, helping the citizens.'

"Monsters helping humanity huh? That is something this world kind of needs. Too many monsters were trying to kill us nowadays." Another commented.

"Sheesh, those look like strong monsters." Someone said. Bearded worker froze when he realized who it was.

"Tatsumaki? Where did you come from?" The Bearded Worker asked in a nervous sweat.

"That doesn't matter. Now show me what these monsters are all about." She demanded as Bearded Worker quickly got out of the way, in fear of the esper. Tatsumaki narrowed her eyes when she looked at the footage.

'They all have that same symbol on their bodies. A coincidence? I don't think so.' She thought. Tatsumaki turned away from the screen. She gave Bearded Worker the evil eye as she floated away.

"I'm going to find these monsters, as they're connected. If they're really on our side, I'll try to recruit them, and if not I'll handle them myself." Bearded Worker exhaled in relief that the terrifying little woman was gone, and did not damage anything here in the process.

 **Meanwhile**

Ben walked around the City Z ghost town. He was exploring his surroundings to try and get a better idea of how this new world functions. Over the past few days, Ben grew acquainted with Saitama, though he saw a hole in front of his house along with a white flag sticking in front of his house, along with a corpse of a four-armed alien-looking monster with blood staining its head. Ben asked why was there a hole in front of his house, He even played video games with the man. When Saitama wasn't fighting monsters, the caped baldy was watching TV or reading manga. However, during his stroll, the sound of breaking of glass whipped the air followed by the clattering of fracturing shards in front of him. Turning his attention to the disturbance, a thug-like man came out with a large sack of what seemed like actual loot. He was a burglar trying his luck and seemed to be successful in his endeavor. Without wasting a second, Ben ducked into an alleyway before he was spotted.

"Heh, with everybody gone. It's easy pickings around these parts," The man said, his face a cocksure grin radiating confidence.

'A burglar, huh?'

Compared with the two apocalyptic-level disasters Ben faced before, a robber seemed so... small.

But, while Ben muddled how to handle the thug, a massive black, swarming mass, a buzzing whoosh, zipped past the thug in question so fast, it could be mistaken as the wind. Blinking, Ben rubbed his eyes in confusion. Did he just see a mosquito in that black mass?

"Huh? Must be the wind…" The man wearing a sweat cap said sensing the same thing as Ben. However, the black mass returned, soon covering the man. When the man looked at himself, he then saw…

"Huh? Ah, ah, Ahhhhhhh!" The man soon screamed in terror realizing that a swarm of mosquitoes engulfed his body as they rapidly sucked his blood dry, leaving him nothing but a sag of skin and bones. Ben's mouth was agape seeing a swarm of mosquitoes that killed a man for the first time in his life. Even if Ben could do something, he does not know which Alien can even save the man, and once he does find one, it would be too late.

Looking around for more mosquitoes, Ben accidentally noticed a flying humanoid being. It was female, as she had a human face, but for the rest of her body, she possesses a mosquito tail, claws, and her skin is a white and black color scheme. Not only that, he saw a swarm of mosquitoes congregating towards the woman; doing something to her.

"Come on guys! That wasn't nearly enough blood. Go out and give me more." The mosquito lady complained to the black swarm. Ben, on the other hand, realized the mosquitoes were feeding her the blood of the man they drained dry.

"Hey, you! W-what are you!?" Ben said, still in shock from that man's death. The bug lady looked down upon Ben and chuckled.

"It seems that our next meal is here. Go drain him dry!" She commanded as the mosquitoes flew towards Ben. The latter immediately slammed his hand onto the Omnitrix blindly, not having enough time to select a specific alien.

" **Water Hazard!** " The mollusk-like alien covered in scarlet armor fired jets of water from his hands. They collided with the swarm; mosquitoes dropped to the ground, their capacity for flight disrupted by the H2O. Seeing this, the Mosquito girl readied a much more massive swarm for her attack. But before she knew it, she was hit in the side by a bright lance of fire, incinerating many of the mosquitoes. Surprised, Water Hazard turned towards the source to see a blond haired man. He had yellow eyes, metal arms, and wore a T-shirt including dull grey jeans.

"Who are you?" Ben asked, surprised by the company.

"Hm? Two monsters? My name is Genos, and **what** are you?" Genos warned pointing his incinerators towards Water Hazard with caution.


	3. Chapter 3: Another Animo

"Alright Genos. Listen, I'm not a monster even though I look… inhuman. I'm on your side." Water Hazard assured him as much as he can. The last thing he needed was someone like Genos mistaking him for a monster. Observing the scarlet creature with great care, Genos was a little reluctant to accept help from the being. But he would rather not fight against two enemies at once.

"...Betray my trust, and I will burn you, creature. If we are fighting together, let me tell you about her. The woman acts as a hive queen, so if we eliminate her, the mosquito swarm will disperse." The cyborg informed from his observation of the swarm over the past days.

"Sounds good to me. I'll see if I can knock out the woman's bug wings." Water Hazard then fired a stream of water at Mosquito girl, but the bug lady easily dodged around the blast and chuckled.

"Eliminate me? Go on and try!" She shrieked with a crazed expression as Genos fired an incineration blast at Mosquito girl only for her to dodge around it with mocking grace.

"She's too fast. I'm gonna need a flyer." Water Hazard hit the Omnitrix dial and flashed in green.

"Stinkfly!" The Lepidopteran shouted. The green extraterrestrial flying insect took flight and chased after the mosquito girl, while unaware of Genos gasping at the sight of Ben changing forms. The bug lady uncovered one of her claws ready for combat, her eyes focused on the unknown foe, gleaming with curiosity.

"Shouldn't you be on my side?" She chuckled. "From one bug to another."

"I'm no monster even if I look weird, bug lady. Plus, I'm here to kick your butt."

Hearing his bold declaration, Mosquito girl chuckled once more.

"So be it!" Her face contorted from condescending to bloodthirsty followed by a battle shriek. Stinkfly fired globs of mucus at Mosquito Girl as the green blobs of goo stuck to multiple places on her body.

"Genos, use your fire beam or whatever! My goo is flammable!" Stinkfly said.

"Incinerate!" Genos reacted to the new information as he unleashed bursts of flames from his palms. But Mosquito girl easily spiraled around the hailing flames with primal grace, followed by an offensive dive towards Genos from the air. Before she could attack Genos, she was T-boned in the side by Stinkfly. The two bugs crashed into a wall. Taking advantage of the monster's confusion, Stinkfly repeated punched her, driving her body more in-depth into the concrete. He then followed up with a thick stream of goo. Mosquito Girl gritted her teeth in frustration and broke out of the wall. She was attempting to flee.

"Good. If you coat her in that goop, we can end this quickly." Genos looked up to see Mosquito girl attempting to flee with a swarm of mosquitoes.

"You cannot escape me," Genos said as he fired an incineration blast. The fireball vaporized the swarm surrounding her while Stinkfly started to pursue her with increasing speed.

"Who are those guys? They're gonna get me If I don't do something." She looked around, most of her skin coated in a thick green mucus.

"The townspeople may all be hiding, but there are plenty of animals around. Come little ones, empty your stored juices into me." She chuckled as mosquitos from the countryside swarmed around her, enveloping her in a big dark cloud. Seeing the dark swarm, Genos leaped up onto a building beside Stinkfly.

"So many. If she's been collecting all of that blood from the whole town and beyond, then it may not simply be a food source for her."

"I got a bad feeling about this," Stinkfly said as Genos charged up an incineration blast. Ben knew from experience that the bug lady was powering up. He couldn't fly in there, and Genos' incineration beams took time to charge up.

"Crap," Stinkfly muttered.

"We should end this as quickly as possible," Genos said. But before he could do anything, their attention was drawn to a very familiar bald man. Saitama was carrying a can of anti-mosquito spray and was chasing a lone mosquito.

"Get back here, dammit. You and I ain't done yet!" Saitama yelled. Genos looked at Saitama as if he were a crazy bald man as he continued chasing the mosquito until he started coughing something out. Stinkfly's four eyes widened in surprise.

"S-Saitama what are you doing here?" Stinkfly asked, only to be blatantly ignored by the bald man, as he considers the fly more crucial than an alien fly.

"Pft Pft, it's in my mouth. God damn mos- Pft Pft you little-" Saitama's rant came to an abrupt end as he noticed the vast swarm of mosquitos.

"What's that squirming over there?" He asked.

"Am I getting this right? You chased a mosquito all the way over here or something?" Stinkfly asked again, only for Saitama to notice him. Albeit barely.

"Hm? A big one?" Saitama mumbled as he sees… him as another fly to swat. He raised his right hand, eyeing Stinkfly with passive eyes. Stinkfly felt his life in great danger upon seeing those eyes, the eyes of the man ending a monster's life without a care.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Take it easy! It's me, Ben!" Stinkfly babbled rapidly, trying to avoid being swatted by the murderous hands of the baldy.

"Oh? You are a giant bug. Huh." Saitama deadpanned, lowering the hand of death. After a moment he turned his head to the cloud again.

"Soo, what is that?"

"A giant mass of mosquitos," Stinkfly answered.

Saitama's face then contorted to that of horror.

"That swarm must be conscious or something." Stinkfly inferred. The massive sphere of mosquitos was getting bigger by the second. For a split second, he had a flashback to one of his adventures when he was ten.

'I wonder if this chick is related at all to Clancy.' Stinkfly wondered. Genos carefully eyed the swarm, planning his next move. He could detect more movement within that indicated the horde was preparing to spread.

"If the swarm senses you, it will attack," Genos said.

"Seriously?" Saitama moaned not wanting to deal with more mosquitoes. "This is bad, I gotta-" Saitama was interrupted by a bout of crazed laughter. The massive ball of mosquitos descended to the ground, flattening and spreading across several city blocks. The mosquitos attached themselves to Stinkfly, with the intent of draining him dry.

"Ahhhhhhh!" He screamed in pain as many pests drained him of his fluids. However, the Omnitrix, upon sensing its wearer's life in danger, changed Ben's alien form automatically.

"Heatblast!" The Pyronite bellowed, burning the mosquitos coating him with flickering flames

Genos, however, was perfectly calm in the storm, and raised his arm, firing an incineration blast so powerful it vaporized the entire storm. His attack scorched not only the mosquitos but also the surrounding city in a destructive inferno. If someone were to look at it from a plane, it would almost seem like lava was flowing through the street. When the firestorm faded, Heatblast remained unaffected by the flames, but the roads and all the surrounding buildings were scorched right down to the frame.

"Since you can speak, I would've thought you'd at least have Human level intelligence." Genos referred to Mosquito girl, believing she was dead.

"But she was just a bug." Heatblast joked although the cyborg paid him no mind.

"You brought all those mosquitos together for me to burn them," Genos said. "When I spotted you, I confirmed that there were no living beings within 500 meters. So I should have been free to fire away." He continued, but then realized he forgot about the bald man that came here. Genos felt panicked for a moment. "Wait that guy might have-"

"Man you saved me. You're amazing." Saitama said, his person revealed unharmed, though he was naked in his full glory. Seeing Saitama's birthday suit, Heatblast turned away not wanting to lose his eyes from the mere sight while Genos merely stood in shock seeing the man also unaffected by his flames.

"What was that just now? You totally made them bug out." Saitama complemented, although the only reaction he received was a face of shock from the cyborg.

"Oh, I was just trying to make a joke about the mosquitos being bugs and-"

"Ohhohohohohohohohoho!"

Saitama was interrupted by the Mosquito girl's laughter. When Genos and the others turned to the voice, Genos and co saw her Mosquito girl flying in the air, utterly unharmed by Genos' incinerators. Mosquito is also different, her skin now red and her aura even more menacing.

"Just great… a power-up…" Heatblast mumbled. His prior experience with tough monsters screamed power-up.

"Idiots." She rebuked mockingly. "I no longer need the tiny ones. I mean…"  
With one slash from one of her claws, she destroyed an entire building, shocking Genos with her power.

"...Look how strong I've become!" Mosquito girl boasted as she vanished from sight, appearing right behind Genos and slashed him right at the midsection. After that she just stood there, flying behind Genos mockingly to play with her food. Genos turned around and tried to punch her, but she smacked him into the air with her massive claws to mock Genos even further. While she is toying with Genos, not possessing the speed to be of use, Heatblast can only watch the cyborg helplessly tormented to shreds.

"No!" Heatblast said. He flared up immensely, trying to up his power as much as possible.

Heatblast jumped into the air, using his firepower to propel him and with great timing, and delivered a sucker punch right for her blood sac while she was focused heavily on her cyborg. But the crimson insect woman vanished before his flaming fist connected.

"Huh?" His fist scraped thin air, however.

"Hihihihi, do you think you sneak up on me with such body heat?!" She shrieked behind Heatblast as she followed with a mighty swipe across the alien's back, knocking him back down with two gashing scars on his back. Heatblast hissed with pain, as he tumbled across the ruined concrete streets, unable to stop the crazy woman from buzzing back to Genos claws at the ready. She then tore him to shreds, darting back and forth through Genos with a swipe every time, and tore pieces and pieces of Genos until she grew bored of her broken toy.

'I see… the more blood she consumes, the more powerful she becomes…' His last thoughts raced through Genos' mind, believing that this is his end.

"Hmmmm…." Meanwhile, Mosquito Girl rested her left leg over her right midair, marveling at her twin-pronged claw while Genos slowly descended back to the earth, in her eyes at least.

"I think I'll take your head next!" She shrieked as she zoomed in onto Genos.

'I let my guard down, and now I'm paying the price for it. My ally can't come to rescue me. I've no chance of winning. All I can do is self-destruct…'

Genos fell helplessly down the air, musing to his final thoughts after losing his lower torso and his left arm. He quickly charged all the power to his power core in his exposed chest, his mechanical heart radiating sky blue and almost ready to explode. Time slowed for Heatblast. He was too shocked to think of anything besides Genos who was about to die. During his time as a hero, nobody died or was about to die under his direct watch, and there was nothing he could do about it. Was it luck? Or simply fate he never found himself in such a predicament?

'Forgive me…doctor…' Genos thought as his eyes affixed onto Mosquito Girl about to claw his head off. He could hear her vicious laugh filled with lustful glee, but before she could even reach him, what happened next went beyond his wildest explanations. Right at that moment, Mosquito Girl's last thought was a powerful slap reverberating through her cheek before her world went black. What Genos saw, however, was the same naked bald man he met earlier slapping the bug woman's left cheek with god-like force, followed by an explosive shockwave while Mosquito Girl zipped past the skyscraper next to them splattering crimson liquid all over the charcoal covered building as she careered into the clouds. Genos gasped in shock upon seeing such might in action, performed so effortlessly by the naked baldy.

"Mosquitos… suck." Saitama joked his one-liner, not caring for Heatblast's life dilemma or Genos' near-death experience while Genos landed on the ground in an anticlimactic thud. Heatblast on the other hand also gazed in shock as well… the third time he saw Saitama in action, and he still could not get used to it. Not only that, but he also noticed that the shock wave from his slap parted a line of clouds, slicing the gray sky open to reveal a line of blue. Sunlight leaked through the silver lining between the clouds and basked Saitama with golden rays, giving him the appearance and setting of a savior. Genos's crippled form clattered to the street. Heatblast was a block away, and getting to his feet. Seeing the scene, Heatblast wondered if Saitama was indeed a saint… but seeing his blank, clueless eyes, he doubted that. Saitama then turned around, ready to return home, but then someone called to him from behind.

"Hold on." Genos pleaded. "Please tell me your name." Saitama turned back around to see the cyborg's remains.

"Oh. It's Saitama." Saitama answered, seeing Genos as another bystander.

"I'd like to be your disciple!" Genos requested from the bald man oblivious to his words.

"Oh, okay." Saitama stoically answered without thought before turning away for home. But once he realized what he just said, he turned back to face Genos.

"Eh?"

Meanwhile

Tatsumaki was heading to the Hero Association's central office, Sitch calling her up for a 'special mission.' Her search for the creature with the hourglass symbol bore no fruit, but one thing she knew for sure is that they're all connected. From the footage she saw, the monsters that bore the symbol were fighting monsters and protecting civilians. She floated into Sitch's office with her arms crossed.

"This better be worth my attention." She grumbled at the big-nosed man in his sixties.  
"I assure you it is, Miss Tatsumaki." Sitch turned a screen towards her. The screen turned on, and there was a slideshow of all known footage on what the association dubbed 'The hourglass monsters.'

"Hmph, I was already trying to look for those things. What could you tell me that I don't already know?" She demanded, her patience running thin, though Sitch was used to her bratty attitude.

"Well uh, there has been an unusually high number of sightings of those monsters in City Z. That city is the perfect place to look." Sitch said as Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow. That was her critical link. If most of the sightings were in city Z, then surely that must be where the monsters live. Tatsumaki suspected that it might be an entirely separate faction of monsters fighting other monsters for the humans. She made a subtle, satisfied nod.

"Hmph. I'll head there then." Tatsumaki stated before floating out of the room, but before she could float off too far, Sitch spoke up one last request.

"Miss Tatsumaki. If the monsters are friendly, could you try recruiting them?"

"That remains to be seen. But sure, I guess." She replied and then exited Sitch's office and headed off to city Z.

A week later…

After the incident, Ben returned to his apartment in deep thought. Never had he witnessed someone nearly dying before in his life, even though Saitama rescued him in the end. Ben mulled over his mind in his bed, trying to think what went wrong that time, only to come up with nothing. He decided to put it aside for later.

Now, Ben and Saitama were playing video games in Saitama's apartment to distract himself. Although Ben turned into Brainstorm to counter the handicaps Saitama had given himself. Brainstorm was levitating the controller, and pressing buttons via electrokinesis. Much to Saitama's irritation.

"By perfectly timing every move, I can deny you the chance to retaliate as a result of this program's mechanics." Brainstorm gloated with a hint of cockiness, as he was winning against the overpowered baldy. Saitama, on the other hand, was fuming, his face twisting from rage. He furiously pressed the buttons in an attempt to defeat the Cerebrocrustacean, but in the end, he Saitama lost the round by a landslide.

"Damn you, crab legs!" Saitama bellowed, restraining himself from pulverizing his controller.

"It seems that my superior intellect has upset you, hohoho," Brainstorm surmised gloatingly, antagonizing Saitama to higher levels which evident via bulging veins protruding from his bald head.

"So far, I find that guy the most annoying," Saitama said, referring to Brainstorm. Then they coincidentally heard a knock on their door the next second. In a split second, Brainstorm calculated all of the possible guests to Saitama's apartment. The list wasn't big, hell, the number of guests could be counted on one hand… no, it was less than two fingers. Genos the cyborg from a week back was at the top of it… or the only one on the list.

"...Believe it is him?" Brainstorm asked teasing the bald man for carelessly taking in an apprentice.

"...No…"

"Sensei!" Then they heard Genos' voice behind the door. Saitama dropped his controller and stood up quickly, still quite irritated.

Saitama answered the door with an irritated expression. The baldy didn't remember the cyborg's name, but he somehow recognized his face. It's a face that can't be quickly forgotten though. How could anyone forget a face like Genos? Not even he was that stupid.

"You really showed up," Saitama said. He didn't expect him actually to show up. And he was already feeling annoyed.

Awkward silence.

"Its Genos, Saitama-sensei." The cyborg said.

"Don't call me sensei," Saitama requested.

"Master!"

"No, not master either." Saitama deadpanned with a bulging vein on his bald head. Genos stepped inside the apartment, and nearly activated his incineration cannons upon seeing the crab-like monster. He was about to fire, and he would if it were not for the familiar symbol on the creature's chest. Genos depowered his cannons as the orange glow in his arms returning to a dull gray.

"Oh, you're that shape-shifting monster that fought with me," Genos said. He was not aware of Ben's true nature. o

"Actually…" Brainstorm tapped the Omnitrix dial and returned to his Human form in a green flash, making Genos gasped in shock upon seeing the shapeshifter is human, a regular human teenager.

"W-what? Impossible." Genos said, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Yeah, I'm a shapeshifter. But my base form is human." Ben extended his hand, in hopes of neutralizing all potential hostilities.

"Ben Tennyson. Nice to meet you, Genos."

Hearing his introduction, Genos then reluctantly shook Ben's hand. After that, Genos and Saitama sat down at the table to discuss the matter regarding the 'apprenticeship.' Saitama, however, was apparently against the issue. Ben was completely neutral in all of it.

"Go on home after you drink," Saitama said his ultimatum. "I'm not looking for disciples." The Baldy was hoping that the cyborg would leave him alone without a fuss.

"I just realized that you're back in one piece," Ben commented seeing Genos all fixed up. Genos turned to face Ben.

"Yes, my body is mostly mechanical, as long as there are parts repairs are quick." Genos explained. Ben was mildly surprised. He had never seen any true cyborgs in his time. In his universe, a prosthetic arm or eye was as far as it went for cyborgization.

"Oh, you're an odd one," Saitama commented. He'd never seen someone like Genos before.

"What kind of parts do you use master?" Genos asked. Ben almost laughed when he asked that. Genos was confident that Saitama was a cyborg or a robot due to his inhuman might and durability, believing that no biological being could've withstood a dozen city blocks going up in flames. Or punch the air with enough force to part clouds.

"Don't use any," Saitama replied. The baldy thought it was an absurd question.

"Then what about the skin colored armor on your head?"

"That's called skin….." Saitama said. Ben felt like laughing his heart out.

"But that would mean that you're bald. Despite being so young." Genos was not taking any hints.

Ben doubled over, silently killing himself with laughter upon hearing Genos senselessly touching Saitama's sensitive subject as a vein popped in Saitama's head.

"So what if I'm bald!? What's your problem!?" The baldy snapped. His head bulged with veins. Ben, however…

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ben finally bursts like a balloon. It hasn't even been fifteen minutes, and Genos already insulted Saitama's shining head. Saitama creaked his bald head right towards Ben, his deadpan eyes seeing Ben rolling over the floor with laughter.

"It's not funny…" Saitama said. He believed that Ben was laughing at his bald head. Genos ignored Ben's outburst of laughter as he continued his questions.

"Hm. You said you'd listen to my problems?" Genos asked with raised hopes. Saitama returned his focus to the cyborg, his eyes even more deadpan.

"No thanks, I'm good," Saitama said, not wanting to endure a troublesome subject, but Genos started his story anyways. Much to Saitama's ire.

"Four years ago, when I was 15 I was still a real human being." Genos began regardless. Saitama looked more irritated than ever, especially at Genos audacity to do what Saitama had asked him not to do. Ben stopped laughing as when Genos started his story, his amusement replaced with curiosity the moment he heard Genos was human when young.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" He snapped, his tone crisp with bulging irritation. Genos blatantly ignored his 'Master's' request and continued orally narrating his life story. While Ben did not mind the narration, Saitama's patience gradually lessened more and more with each word coming from Genos' mouth. His brow even started to twitch in frustration, his thigh started thumping the floorboards, and time slowed around Saitama in response to his waning patience. As Genos continued to monologue, Saitama started fidgeting very quickly. Ten seconds later, veins were popping on Saitama's head, and now his whole head was twitching red with ire.

'...how long will he go on?' Ben thought, sweat-dropping at Genos' poor storytelling about his life, how he desired vengeance against the mad cyborg responsible for the death of his family, etc. until Saitama finally had enough and explosively expressed his thoughts the best way he could.

"ENOUGH, YOU IDIOT! SHORTEN IT TO 20 WORDS OR LESS!"

Genos paused from the sudden outburst, silencing his mouth much to Saitama's relief.

"...Hah, another crazy day it is, then." Ben muttered as he sighed in defeat, foreseeing another day of baldy-flavored insanity.

Meanwhile…

Deep within the mountains, lies a skyscraper like building deep within the forest upon uneven terrain. Foliage and random fauna encroached the building's exterior, dulling the once white walls to dull decayed brown and giving it the appearance of a remarkable building undeservedly abandoned to time. However, appearances can be quite deceiving. Within the walls, lies a dark room the only light there being computer monitors, and a young spectacled man sat on a chair gazing into the glowing screen.

"Mosquito girl was defeated?" Dr. Genus asked the person, who shares a strikingly similar appearance and nodded in return, revealing to be an identical clone born from mortal science alone.

"Well, it does not matter. Without any blood to feed on, she is nothing more than an insect with wings. She was merely a prototype after all." He sighed as he looked at a picture of Mosquito Girl on the computer screen.

"No, sir. You don't understand. She was defeated after consuming a substantial amount of blood. In one punch." The clone elaborated, piquing Genus' interest with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh?" Dr. Genus then typed the keyboard, downloading the footage recorded via spy drones from Mosquito Girl's encounter with the strange bald man…without any clothes on him whatsoever.

"Why is he naked?" Dr. Genus asked impassively.

"Unknown." One of his clones replied neutrally.

"...Hmm, regardless, he'll make an excellent specimen. We shall study his physiology by force if needed." The mad scientist plotted.

"Send a messenger to invite him here. To our House of Evolution." Dr. Genus ordered as he looked at some more footage. He saw three different monstrous creatures engage Mosquito Girl in combat alongside the bald man and the cyborg. One was a mollusk-like creature with a hard carapace. Another was a giant dark green bug. Then finally there was a humanoid bipedal creature seemingly comprised of red rocks with brightly glowing cracks in between. But what got his attention is that they all had the same symbol on their bodies. A circular emblem bearing an hourglass symbol, two parts green and black.

"Fascinating…" He commented upon seeing the monster shapeshift with every flash of emerald.

Meanwhile…

"Master, here's the short version. Please teach me the way to become strong like you." Genos succinctly summarized his purpose here. Upon hearing his more straightforward request, Saitama's face changed, from his poker face to a slightly stern look. A first for Ben as he never actually saw Saitama being serious in his life.

"Genos…"

"Yes!"

"How old are you?" Saitama asked. The bald hero was going to give Genos what he wanted. As it was abundantly clear, he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"19," Genos answered clearly.

"So young… I'm sure you'll surpass me in no time."

"Do you mean that?" Genos asked with a hopeful spirit.

'Yeah, right.' Ben thought with skepticism. There was no way Genos could get as strong as the baldy… now that he thought about it, how strong is the Baldy, anyways? He blinked, now realizing that he could not stop referring Saitama as Baldy, even though it was quite rude to nitpick his absence of hairs on the shiniest head he had ever seen. But… still, the caped hero is just so damn bald…

"I'm 25 now. I was 22 when I started training in the summer."

Genos gasped from the revelation. Ben, on the other hand, listened closely in hopes of the baldy revealing the secret of his power, a power no human in his world could achieve. Ben imagined himself as Way Big One Punching a mountain-sized alien into smithereens. The boy inwardly smiled at the thought.

"Yes, I can teach you. But it won't be easy." The ambiance shimmered as Saitama's face turned dangerous for the first time Ben can see.

"Whoa…" The boy can feel the power radiating from his body for the first time in his life, slightly overwhelming for a few seconds. He quickly corrected himself. Could he achieve this power? Now that Ben thought about it when was the last time he actually trained?

"Can you handle it?" Saitama asked with equal intensity.

"Yes, sir!" Genos answered with equal seriousness. But then, Genos turned his head and then leaped towards the door, landing crouched on one knee with both cybernetic hands rested upon the floor. Lines of text and images flashed across the cyborg's golden irises, detecting numerous alarms nearby Saitama's apartment. On his way to Saitama's residence, he had planted multiple motions sensors to detect possible interruptions. He frowned slightly upon discovering signs of unknown life forms approaching the apartment.

"Object approaching at high speed. It's here!" He shouted, confusing Ben and Saitama with his words.

""Huh?"" Ben and Saitama said simultaneously before a loud crash erupted as a mantis creature with a transparent glass skull revealing his brain smashed through the ceiling and landed before the three. Saitama's head bulged veins as his head slowly creaked to the intruder.

"Kyakyakyakyakyakya! My name is… huh-BOLGPH!" Before the monster could say anything else, the last image he saw was scarlet red before his world faded to black. In Ben's point of view, Saitama punched the mantis' transparent glass head to the end of splattering it like a watermelon, dying the wall behind the mantis wall with gore.

"Pay for my ceiling," Saitama grumbled for his home.

Ben though nearly puked his weak stomach from the gruesome sight. The boy was never comfortable with taking lives, monsters or not, especially since the monsters reminded him of the mistreated aliens back on Earth. Thus, conflicting Ben's heart and mind on his future actions from now on.

"Oh, my… gggod." Ben croaked as he vomited in his mouth a little. Saitama then eerily turned his head to Ben with mechanical fluidity, his eyes scarily asking if he will defile his home as well. Ben quickly swallowed his puke, afraid he'll end up as wall painting should he follow up.

"There are two more outside. Master leave them to me." Genos volunteered enthusiastically, leaping out of Saitama's apartment through the punctured hole in the ceiling.

"Yeah… I'll walk." Ben does not want to transform right now with a queasy stomach. He groggily exited the front door, taking the stairs down. When he rounded the corner to the other side of the building, he saw a snail person and a frogman embedded halfway into the ground.

"Don't bust people's ceilings…" Saitama scolded the two mutants half buried in the concrete.

"When did he get there…" Ben never saw the caped baldy exit the building. He looked back to the apartment baffled, before turning back to him. Speed accompanied his massive power as well it seemed.

"Can't you guys just come through the door?" He grumbled. But from the ground, two hands erupted from the concrete and grabbed Saitama's ankles, and then dragged Saitama into the concrete, deeply buried with only his head above the street. Seeing this, Ben was utterly unfazed since he knew Saitama would be alright from what he knew of the bald Superman so far. Genos was a different story.

"M-master!" Genos walked over to help his master.

"No, I'm fine Genos." He rejected, his mind wandering still while underground. "I kinda feel like a bamboo shoot." Saitama mused, his poker face and uncaring attitude never faltering even in this dilemma. Genos's head darted up upon his motion sensors detecting more activity.

"Elevated energy levels detected," Genos said. Right on cue, an explosion of rubble and electricity occurred which was followed by the emergence of a what Ben thought was a cyborg gorilla due to its steel colored metal armor covering its body from head to toe. That and its posture that resembled that of an oversized ape. Ben activated the Omnitrix and dialed up his desired alien.

"Upgrade!" He slammed the dial down and flashed emerald.

"Buzzshock!" The little battery like alien looked down at himself and sighed.

"Whyyy…." He said, his voice now possessing a vibrating tone to it. Deciding to make do with what he had, Buzzshock zipped around the cyborg, zigzagging around the cyborg linearly while firing multiple electrical blasts from his stubby fingers. Each jolt of electricity sparked harmlessly against the cyborg's armor. The 'Armored Gorilla' as Buzzshock mentally labeled turned to face the little alien.

"You're not the target." The gorilla cyborg swung its massive metal arm, effortlessly swatting the small black sparkster away, up into a power line. Upon contact, the black rubber wires sparked brightly as the conductive metal underneath made contact with the Nosedeenian.

"Ooohhhhh hehehehehehehe!" He rapidly giggled in an exciting high as the energy flowed into him. To Nosedeenians, extreme currents of electricity were the equivalent of a day at the spa for a Human, and Ben was enjoying every second of it.

Seeing that Ben was temporarily out of the picture, Genos sprinted forward towards his adversary with incinerators ready, albeit unaware of the actual situation.

"What's going on? I can't see." Saitama complained as the street dust obscured his vision, while the two cyborgs ignited their seemingly fated duel to the finish. The metal gorilla appraised Genos' smaller figure with a glance, before immediately dismissing him as a nuisance not worth his time.

"You're in the way!" The Cyborg roared, rearing its fist back and lunged. Genos easily dodged the attack and delivered a kick to the Cyborg's helmet and dented it, slightly staggering the enemy cyborg. Following up, Genos used the energy from his kick to propel himself back onto his feet.

"I have some questions for you," Genos said to the cyborg. It did not respond and cupped its fists together before swinging them down at Genos. His massive hands crashed down on the diminutive cyborg, but the synthetic nerves wired in his metal hands felt only concrete under them. During that moment, Genos darted left aside, dodging his foe's massive hands, and countered, signaling the start of the battle between two cyborgs.

Meanwhile…

Buzzshock was still absorbing more and more power from the power lines, enveloped by an aura of electric energy as the power line melted from electrical overload. Once reaching the critical level, the Nosedeenian promptly discharged it in an explosive outburst, descending towards the ground more energized than ever. Not only that, the influx of power cured his stomach problem, cleansing his queasiness and fatigue to his delight. Now wholly powered up, he turned his attention back towards the cyborg gorilla, albeit with a personality goofier than before, a side-effect of energy overload.

"Hey ugly, remember me? You look like you could use some voltage maintenance." The little alien taunted, happy to be rid of his stomach ache, before firing a mighty stream of electricity at the cyborg. Upon contact, it courses throughout his body before disrupting his nervous system, throwing his body out of control. After enduring the shock treatment, Armored Gorilla recovered and launched himself at the alien, swiping his foe with his mighty hands as Buzzshock split into two even halves.

"No!" Genos shouted with concern upon seeing Ben bisected in two. However, contrary to his shock, the two halves regenerated into two separate Buzzshocks.

"You… What are you?" Armored Gorilla asked. The two Nosedeenians cackled in consonance, singing a juvenile tune.

"Ben Tennyson! The greatest hero of all time." Ben arrogantly declared. Armored Gorilla grunted in frustration, irritated by his arrogance. He ignored the fact that a monster referred to itself with a human name, but not the fact that it saw itself as a 'hero.'

"Heroism is relative." Armored Gorilla retorted. In his eyes, the heroes of this world only helped others for the sake of fame or attention. Not to mention that Dr. Genus himself theorized that their efforts were stimulating monster appearances around the world.

"So is evil, and I'm looking at it right now." The left Buzzshock responded.

The duo circled Armored Gorilla, both Buzzshocks pointing their arms forward and concurrently discharged currents of electricity into both of the cyborg's arms. The cyborg's arms jerked and spasmed erratically, the electric overload scrambling his internal software.

"Unhand me!" Armored Gorilla shouted in anger. The two Buzzshocks only laughed.

With the Cyborg temporarily neutralized, Genos leaped up and kicked the machine to the ground.

"I have a few questions for you," Genos said. The Cyborg did not answer. The Gorilla's arms rebooted from voltage overload and swung his right at Buzzshock. The swing smashed Buzzshock into three pieces, each now growing into a new Buzzshock. There were four Nosedeenians in total now. Armored Gorilla frowned underneath his helmet, annoyed by their atypical macro mitosis.

"You possess…. unexpected abilities. The House of Evolution could use you, strange mutant." Armored Gorilla offered Buzzshock, but before he could answer, Genos delivered an uppercut to Armored Gorilla's helmet, severely denting it from the face-up.

"Don't let him move!" Genos yelled, desiring to uncover the gorilla's origins.

Ben and his clones nodded and fired webs of sparks from their small arms as they conducted through the cyborg's body, hampering his movements.

"Save your breath. You will not live to ask." Armored Gorilla stammered as he pushed harder against Genos, powering through the disruptive shocks.

"It would be in your best interest to cooperate." Genos countered with a venomous tone. One of the Buzzshocks turned to face Genos.

"Hey dude, you need any more help here?" One of the Buzzshocks asked.

"Leave some of your clones to cut off his escape. I'll handle him." Genos then turned back to Armored Gorilla. He reached forward and ripped his helmet off, revealing a wounded face that had not only blood leaking from the nose but also a look of extreme anger.

"Now then… talk." Genos said as he powered up his incinerators. One of the Buzzshocks turned to see a hulking lion-like creature with red eyes towering over Saitama who was still buried up to his neck in the ground.

"Hey jerk off, what's with that look?" He shouted in Saitama's face.

While all the fight still went on, The Beast King was busy guarding the bald hero, and was about to take him away to Dr. Genus, but… the baldy just yawned. The way his face looked back at him was irritating. Was he looking down on him? The Number two of the House of Evolution? The baldy didn't even leak a single ounce of fear before his grand presence, thus the reason why the lion man looked down at the head of the baldy with such anger he looked like he was about to explode.

On the other, his angry face did not amuse the mentioned baldy.

"Eh? Being underground keeps you cool, but at the same time it's nice and warm" Saitama said, tuning out the monster's existence entirely like air. The lion man's snout furrowed. His teeth bared as his anger was getting the better of him.

"I'm sleepy, could you get lost?" Saitama casually yawned, unintentionally irritating the lion man in front of him. After feeling his psychotic urges about to break free, The Beast King suddenly calmed down and sighed.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I see. I need to teach you your place. Listen Up! I'm gonna slice your eyes out with these." He threatened, showing his claw to Saitama's eye.

"Ok." Saitama deadpanned, still bored out of his mind.

Beast King was about to explode with rage until he saw two flying sparks of…

"Huh?" The Beast King looked at the two floating batteries hovering a few meters away from him over the baldy. From his mind, they looked like joke versions of battery monsters.

"Battery monsters?" The Beast King uttered as his eyes darted back and forth between the two.

"Why does… Alright then. Hello, I am Buzzshock, a natural born alien. Nice to meet you muscle cat." The two Buzzshocks said simultaneously, returning the Beast King's insult.

"My name is the Beast King! How dare you insult my regalness, you flying pest!" The Beast King roared with fury.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm the one who did not shot first and made assumptions like I'm a random battery monster." One of the Buzzshocks quipped with sarcasm to the Beast King snarling ire.

"Hmmm… And you're here attacking us for what? Why would a monster be working with humans?" The Beast King inquired with slight curiosity.

"What part of aliens do you not understand, muscle brain? There's a difference!" One of them scolded with an electric outburst.

"What kind of fool do you take me for? The House of Evolution disputes the existence of 'aliens.' Bah, call yourself what you like, but stay out of my way you pests!"

"...no idea what you just said, but it's hero time, meatbag!" Buzzshocks concurrently said as they zipped and darted around the Beast King like glowing flies.

The Beast King cracked his knuckles, eyeing the fireflies around him.

"So you wish to challenge the House of Evolution's second strongest? Ahahahahaha, know your place!" The Beast King declared.

"Then come and get us!" Buzzshock said. Both flying aliens were firing off bolts of electricity from all angles, each bolt stinging the lion man's skin, but didn't injure him. The Beast King swipe at the Nosedeenians with his claws, but the flying batteries kept eluding his attempts as they danced around his claws leaving trails of yellow.

"Hold still dammit!" He roared, now swiping wildly at the air without composure. He struck one by chance, splitting it into three, the sight making Beast King smile. But his smile inverted to a frown when the severed bodies regrew like worms… growing into three more.

"What?! What the hell are you?!" He shouted out of shock. The House of Evolution never witnessed such regeneration in all its years, the natural ability of worms thought impossible to utilize on such a scale. The three new Buzzshocks laughed in a mocking electric chorus.

"Thanks for the one up!" One of them said.

"Yes, keep doing it! I dare you!" Another mocked. They joined their brethren and continued circling the Beast King like a swarm of angry flies, zapping their target in a flock of jolting bolts. However, each Buzzshock could only do so much damage as each electric bolt could do no more than barely singeing his fur.

"Grrr, annoying flies." The Beast King muttered. The scale of battle was against him, his options significantly limited. He could not harm them, but they could not honestly faze him, and for every second wasted in thought, a stinging pain echoed through his nerves followed by blackened fur.

"Come on, cut us kitty! Here, kitty kitty kitty!" One of them jeered, angering the Beast King even further.

"Insolent bug! Don't talk as if you can hurt me!" Beast King retorted as an idea popped into his mind. Their design derived from real life batteries, the plan that batteries could only hold so much energy to use. And his program was strengthened upon their the electric auras and their speed gradually dimmed more and more every second. Upon seeing one of them as dim as a useless battery, he roared as he swiped at the test target.

"Lion Slash!" Upon swinging his claws diagonally upwards, four blades of air pressure flew from his attack, splitting the Buzzshock and the house behind it into six pieces in his path. He watched at it carefully, his lips curving into a grin upon seeing corpse clatter around the concrete. The other Buzzshocks looked at their fallen clone in shock.

"Oh no." One Buzzshock said, also bisected into several pieces, caught in the crossfire as it died as well. His head still popped up from the ground, Saitama watched the battle addled with boredom, his face filled with disinterest and his mind focused on repair costs for his broken ceiling.

"Well, enough fooling around." Saitama murmured as he started climbing out of the concrete like he was getting out of a pool.

"EH?!" Earth Dragon watched with bulging eyes upon seeing how the earth parted in his wake like water.

"If you guys want to apologize for smashing my ceiling now's your chance," Saitama said as he walked to the half-buried Frog and Snail men grabbed each of their legs and pulled them out of the ground. Trails of dirt and dust dripped from their bodies as the baldy then dropped the two down like sacks of potatoes. The two mutants woke up from the head trauma, their prone form slowly picking themselves up as they looked at each other in confusion before their eyes turned to the bald incarnation of pain. Looking up at his shining head, they nervously chuckled as they cowered.

""Forgive us! Please spare us!"" The mutants, in a pathetic whine, got on their knees and begged, performing dogeza before him.

"Pay for my ceiling," Saitama demanded.

"Y-Yeah, we will fix it! Just let us go." Seeing this, Saitama nodded in satisfaction.

"Stay here. You will get to work later on." The two mutants froze, stood up on their feet, and saluted out of fear of death.

"SIR, YES SIR!" They babbled with as much respect as they could.

Satisfied, Saitama then turned to the Beast King swiping at the mini Bens. Only three of them remained. Watching their battle, Saitama walked up to the Beast King as he wondered what to eat for dinner… just to see the Beast King decimate another abandoned house like finely sliced sushi.

"Hah…" He then walked to the Beast King with a lazy drawl, his eyes devoid of emotion but his mind filled with concern for his humble abode.

"Hey, Ben. Stop for a moment. I need a second alone with this guy," Saitama asked as the two combatants stopped upon hearing his voice. The Beast King turned to Saitama.

"Hey, you. Stop fighting. I don't want to deal with a broken apartment." Saitama requested as Buzzshock stared at him dumbfounded. He did not come to help Ben, just to protect his house?

"Wait your turn baldy. You're next after them!" The Beast King snarled, wanting to finish the Buzzshocks off first.

"Ok…" Suddenly, Saitama impassively threw his right fist, uppercutting the Beast King's chest and blaster his upper torso to gory pieces as if he struck him with the world's strongest cannon. The Beast King then rained his body parts all around the area, with one of his eyes landing on a stupefied Buzzshock.

All three hovered with hung jaws, too shocked to even react appropriately as one even ignoring the eye on him. Ben wouldn't be used to Saitama's strength for a while.

"""Uhhmm…..""" They all mumbled. Saitama then turned to the three Buzzshocks, noticing the symbol on the top of their heads.

"...Oh. I thought you were one of them for a moment…" Saitama uttered as they backed off a little.

"Heh heh heh… yeah… please don't hit me."

"Hm?" Saitama then noticed three dials on each of them.

"What? There are three of you?" Saitama then raised his fist, wondering if any of them are fake.

The Buzzshocks all chuckled nervously.

"Yeah… this alien can duplicate. We can clone ourselves… You do know what a clone is right?" One of them asked.

"Oh yeah… Like a personal copy of yourself…" Saitama then lowered his fist, eliciting a sigh of relief from them.

"Yeah, like that," Buzzshock said, hitting the dial on the top of his head upon seeing that the battle was now over. A flash of green consumed all three of them, revealing Ben in their place.

"Man, that guy was tough. I should've gone with Four Arms." Ben said. He then looked at the bloody mess of the Beast King, from the lower torso to the exploded upper one. Ben couldn't take it anymore and lost the contents of his stomach, ejecting them onto the concrete. He coughed violently for a moment before regaining his composure.

"Oh man…. Will I ever get used to this?" Ben said out loud, his stomach weak again. Very rarely did anything like this happen in his world. Seeing a living, thinking organism splattered across multiple city blocks was too much for him to handle.

"…You'll get used to it." Saitama stated with no emotion in his voice.

"How do YOU get used to it?" Ben asked. Unable to believe that getting over blood and gore was possible for any sane individual.

Saitama shrugged. "I was more focused on defeating monsters to care when I started out. The exploding only happened about… a year ago maybe." Saitama replied.

"Oh…" Ben understood, still weak from losing the stomach contents. Ben's attention turned to Genos and Armored Gorilla. The latter on his butt backed to a building in a heap. But the Earth Dragon was still there. He tunneled out of the street, taking a good look. His eyes widened, and he gasped upon seeing the remains of the Beast King, and the incapacitated Armored Gorilla. In a panic, he dived back beneath the earth, in hopes of fleeing to safety.

"…Ben, just wait a moment. I have something to take care of." The Earth Dragon did not leave unnoticed. He still had to pay for ruining his neighborhood.

Ben only watched as Saitama… disappeared in a cloud of dust, replaced by a large hole in the ground.

"No…" Ben does not want to think about it. He continued staring at the hole before him and the gap left by the mole, putting two and two together. Ben could've used Clockwork to repair the damages to Saitama's home. But he decided to let the intruders face the music.

A moment of patient waiting later, Ben suddenly heard a loud eruption of dust, seeing Saitama appearing from the ground. The baldy was holding Earth Dragon by the head in his red gloves hand, almost as if he will pop the mole's head like a balloon.

"Ahhhhh! Forgive me, great Oni! Please don't eat my soul!" Earth Dragon pleaded.

Ben only stared as he heard 'Oni.'

"Oni?" Ben repeated. He had no idea what the creature was referring to, but the soul part gave him a good idea.

"You. Fix my street. Now." Saitama demanded with a low tone before dropping the mole back to the concrete. Upon landing, it started sobbing heavily, groveling before Saitama with his claws rubbing his leaking eyes. He was so close to death. The Earth Dragon nearly felt his heart exploding upon seeing the Baldy's head popped in the tunnel. The face would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Y-yes, sir!" He said while sobbing a little. Ben almost felt sorry for the little guy… almost.

Now with the three surviving intruders sorted out, Ben and Saitama went over to Genos who was interrogating Armored Gorilla.

"I will ask again. Was the House of Evolution developing cyborgs before four years ago?" Genos demanded in a low tone.

"It is you who will be eliminated. I am the third most powerful fighter in the House of Evolution. At your power level, you will never beat the Beast King, the second most powerful fighter. You will be destroyed." The cyborg replied unfazed.

"Answer the question or be eliminated," Genos said as his arms powered up. Trying to use the glow of his incinerators to intimidate the cyborg. Ben walked over to Genos.

"Hey man, take it easy. He's no good to us if he's dead." Ben said, not wanting to see further bloodshed.

Saitama looked at Ben… and caught the sight of an eye dangling off of his right shoulder. He walked up to Ben and picked the eyeball off with his fingers.

"You mean this guy?" Saitama asked as Ben saw a trail of slime from his shoulder… attached to the eyeball.

"Wait… oh, my god…" Ben realized he had an eyeball on his shoulder as his stomach worked up again, but he had nothing more to vomit up, leaving only the taste of bile in his mouth as he cupped his hands over his face, retching whatever foodstuff remained within his bowels.

The Armored Gorilla watched as he saw the eyeball… and analyzed it… confirming it belonged to the Beast King. He then remained quiet, his face still stoic, leaving the area in silence minus the retching Ben behind Genos.

"Um, I am sorry. Please spare my life! I'll tell you anything you want!" Armored Gorilla pleaded, no longer possessing his robot tone.

"Eh? What happened to your high tech robot voice?" Saitama asked, caring only for that.

"Um, sorry about that, I was just trying to sound cool…"

Saitama was not amused.

"Then I will ask it again. Was the House of Evolution developing cyborgs before four years ago?"

"I-I do not know. I was created recently. And I'm the only cyborg there." Armored Gorilla answered. Genos' head drooped in disappointment. All this effort to get him to talk and nothing came of it. Ben recovered from his retching and wiped his mouth. The taste of bile would remain for a while.

"So.. What is the House of Evolution anyway?" Ben asked. Armored Gorilla looked at Ben in confusion.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"...I was the battery monster… oh god, it is coming back." Ben then walked to the side to resume his retching. Armored Gorilla then decided to tell what he knew about the House of Evolution. In hopes, it would appease the baldy and the cyborg.

"Long ago there existed a brilliant young scientist. By dint of his extraordinary genius, he was able to make many contributions to human science. Eventually, however, he became disillusioned with the world… Dr. Genus is his name." The Gorilla went on a long monologue about the origins of his creator and his motivations. But after already dealing with one obnoxiously long story today, Saitama put a stop to it.

"This is taking too long." He interrupted. "Tell it in twenty words or less!" Saitama demanded.

"My master is a busy man. Summarize it in 20 words or less." Genos followed.

Armored Gorilla gasped slightly, in fear of angering the baldy.

"Um… in other words my boss has become very curious about your body." Armored Gorilla said.

"...I don't swing that way." Saitama uttered, not amused in the slightest.

"I think you misunderstood master. He plans to use your body witch surpasses normal human limitations, for his research on evolution. If we don't do something, I'm sure he'll try again." Genos said. Saitama cupped his chin for a moment.

"Our next move should be to attack him," Genos added. Ben recovered from his retching and walked back over to his new friends.

"Ach each… aww, man…. What did I miss?" Ben asked. He was too busy vomiting his guts up to listen to the words around him.

"Are you still unwell?" Genos asked. His scans of Ben revealed unhealthy levels of internal stress from extreme vomiting. "Anyways… The people who sent Armored Gorilla want to use Saitama to advance themselves."

"Uh huh? Reminds me of someone back home…" Ben said, before burping a little. What Genos described sounded much like Dr. Animo.

"Oh? Now that you mention it, where do you come from, Ben?" Genos asked.

Ben froze when Genos asked that.

"..." he does not know how to reveal his origins without leaving his newfound companions in disbelief.

"Ummm, somewhere pretty far away," Ben replied.

"Oh? How far? City A?" Genos asked as Ben sweated profusely.

"...I'll tell you about it later." Ben evaded further questions with his trump card, 'putting it to later.' Despite Genos and Saitama being decent, he felt that he should confess himself on a later date when he was truly ready to spill the beans.

 ***Author's note***

 **Truthfully, this chapter was when Spaceengineer and I were still editing the document. It is long, I know. A bad habit on my part mostly. Anyways, I am serious on needing a good writer to help me write this series.**

 **Spaceengineer and I wrote around 500,000 words of future scenes in our spare time. I am not kidding. That is how devoted we are to this series. If anyone wants to write alongside me, please let me know as soon as you can.**

 **Also, it's my birthday. Thus, gift me with a writer of great skill interested to work with me! :D**


	4. Chapter 4: Unexpected Truth and Visit

**Author here. Yeah, still need that co-writer for this fic. Will help me write a lot faster and produce more content... hah. Why is good help so hard to find?**

* * *

An hour later Saitama, Genos, and Ben as Fasttrack were running across the countryside, heading towards the headquarters stationed in the mountains secluded from public eyes. Fasttrack was keeping pace with Genos, though the baldy was a different story.

"I didn't think we'd be running the whole way," Genos said.

"How else are we gonna get there?" Saitama replied.

"I don't know. I thought you could fly or something." Genos admitted.

"So that you know. Humans can't fly." Saitama dryly retorted.

'Eh? Really?' Fasttrack does not believe Saitama in the slightest. Even on the fact that he was human. In Ben's eyes, Saitama looked like he could fly if he wanted to.

"Can't you two run any faster?" Fasttrack complained. The heroes have been running for the past twenty or so minutes. And the Omnitrix only had five, maybe eight minutes of power left.

"You truly are an amazing hero. You're always on time" Genos said to Saitama while ignoring the complaining alien.

"Actually, I hardly ever arrive on time," Saitama said otherwise.

Ben could back that up from his experience. Saitama was usually late to the scene. After trekking the forest road leading up to the mountains, and stopping to watch Saitama punch the occasional bear, they reached an eight-story tall building with moss infecting its visage.

"Well, this is it. The site Armored Gorilla described." Genos announced.

Finally reaching their destination, with a flash of emerald light, Fasttrack transformed back into Ben to recharge the Omnitrix.

"So this is the House of Evolution, huh?" Ben said, taking in the scenery. The appearance of the building reminded Ben of the many secret hidden lairs of the villains he usually defeated and imprisoned from time to time. The rotted exterior, and the usual high tech interior, the latter which Ben had yet to see.

'I wonder how it looks inside?' Ben thought as he deliberated with his imagination using his experience as a base.

During his musings, his thoughts were interrupted by the flash of a massive stream of plasma blasting through the inconspicuous-looking building.

"Eh?" Blinking in shock, Ben immediately whirled his neck towards Genos, seeing the cyborg firing his incinerator cannons at the building without warning.

After a few seconds, the building and the mountains behind it were just no more. Once Ben looked back to the building, his jaw figuratively dropped to the floor. The building was no more, only ruins of the base remained, along with a sizeable see-through hole punched through the mountain behind the building.

"...Genos." Ben stuttered.

"What the hell..." Ben was struggling. Despite his best efforts, he just could not find the right words to express his reaction.

"What?"

"...what are you doing?" Saitama asked with a deadpan expression. "We could've at least seen what they had in store for us."

"Oh. I decided it would be best to destroy the enemy in one swoop." Genos said as if it was natural.

"Genos..." Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. He paused as he grappled for the right words to explain.

"There are rules to this." Ben tried with the best words he could find.

"...rules?" Genos asked as if confused. Ben made a mental note that a computer brain does not equate to high intelligence.

"Yes. When we fight villains, we give them a chance to fight back. Mostly to see their capabilities, and NOT kill them without giving them a chance to explain their motives. Capiche?" Ben laid out the rough summary of his statement.

"..." Genos remained silent, just wordlessly nodded at Ben's statement with a face that screamed 'why?' As Genos opened his mouth, the sound of grating metal interrupted the two.

Turning their focus to the ruined building, the two saw the caped baldy peeling off a metal hatch. The way Saitama opened the hatch with comical ease reminded Ben of himself peeling the skin off an orange. Saitama was too casual even in infiltrating the lair of a supervillain, too casual for Ben's taste as it sort of robbed the suspense and excitement of Heroing.

"Think I found something," Saitama called out to them.

"...hah." Ben sighed. Tired and out of any more retorts against the sight of Saitama peeling metal like peeling the skin of a banana, he just followed Saitama as the three descended the stairs as the scene transitioned into a long hallway.

Treading within the underground hallway, darkness around every corner, the three made their way deeper into the lair of the mastermind behind the attack. The air was silent, too silent for Ben. It reminded him of that one time with Zombozo and Ghostfreak… he hoped that there were no zombified monsters or something out of the woodworks.

"This basement is huge," Saitama commented at the larger than the average corridor. Judging from the broad and height, Ben could tell the hall was designed for more than just humans to pass through.

Abruptly, Genos halted, raising an arm to stop the others in their tracks.

"I sense life signatures deeper inside the tunnels. Sensei, two of them are approaching."

Without hesitation, Ben readied his Omnitrix, prepared to hit the dial at the slightest sign of danger in sight. He was ready to deal with this world's Dr. Animo.

'I wonder what he's like compared with my world's Dr. Animo?' Ben thought to compare the two. This one used chimeric life formed hybridized with Human DNA while his world's mad doctor just mutates whatever animal with a human base genome. Compared to the Doctor in his world,… this one might seem to be more dangerous. The Mosquito Girl and the others were a clear indication of his skills in genetic engineering. Plus, the Gorilla did mention that the guy learned the secret of eternal youth; which none in his world could even accomplish now that he thought about it, scientifically at least. There was the Fountain of Youth, but this guy unlocked it through science. Plus, the humans here were never graced with alien life before; thus, the humans in this world could be superior to those of his world given enough time to advance.

Deep within the tunnels, the hall rumbled as heavy footsteps thudded within. The lights further down the hallway were going out as the shadow of a towering figure drew closer.

"Oh, here we go!" A voice bellowed. "There are three, which one is it?"

Squinting his eyes, Ben saw… what seemed to be a mutant beetle monster on god knows how many steroids. That thing was so bulky; Ben wondered if it took any drugs to get that buff. Also, the sight of an injured man in glasses also took him off guard, as the monster was holding the man by the head, using him as if a toy or something.

"The guy in the right. But save the guy in the middle." Dr. Genus said. Ben backed out of the way of the charging beast that would be upon them in a matter of seconds. Ben tried to clap the Omnitrix on his hand to transform, but before he could…

"In that case, you don't need the one on the left" The monster, its size as tall as the corridor, smashed Genos' head into the wall.

""Genos!"" Ben and Saitama gasped. The tunnel was filled with pulverized stone, choking the air. Ben coughed, swatting away the dust in an attempt to get a better view of Genos' state, only to see… what looked like a work of art with how Genos' head embedded itself into the wall with his mechanical arms and legs dangling lifelessly.

"I am Carnage Kabuto, and we've got a combat experimentation room. Let's do this in there." The monster said.

Ben was about to retort, but Saitama did it before him as he pointed his finger at the monster.

"You turned Genos into a piece of modern art. I will make you pay for that." Saitama said.

Carnage Kabuto smiled maliciously in response, his smile chilling Ben to his core. Something about this thing told Ben that he would die if he let his guard down in the slightest. It was a feeling he never felt before even when fighting Vilgax and the other world-ending villains.

* * *

"Pretty Big eh? It's the biggest room in the facility."

The facility was a white large, cubicle room, lit by the lights emitted from the ceiling. Nothing too grand about it except the wide-open space.

"I've seen bigger." Ben compared this room with the other places he saw in his hero days back in his universe. Much bigger in fact.

"Well then, let's start the killing!" Carnage Kabuto roared. But before he could do anything, he was hit with an incineration blast. Standing in the entrance with his arm outstretched, Genos stumbled into the room with an impassive face of retribution. Carnage Kabuto diverted his attention to the direction of the attack, feeling nothing more than a mere sting on his body.

"Still alive, huh?" The monster huffed out of annoyance, eyeing Genos as if looking down on a bug.

Genos charged forward, his movement boosted by the thrusters in his back, zigzagging his way towards him with dust left in his wake until he was up close face to face with Carnage Kabuto. With a wicked smile, the monster made eye contact with the oncoming Cyborg without any sense of alarm in his demeanor.

"Idiooooot~" He taunted as if saying nothing Genos could do can hurt him no matter what.

"Machine gun blow!" Genos unleashed a flurry of swift punches against the armored monster. Carnage Kabuto let out another huff of annoyance. Genos was unable to react to the backhand he received, sending him flying across the facility, landing on Saitama's shoulder. The baldy caught him in his arms as he watched Genos struggling even to lift his head.

Blinking, Ben watched as Genos fired another incinerator blast towards Carnage Kabuto, a trailing flare of orange wrath blazing towards the object of his hatred. However, Carnage Kabuto did something none of his aliens could do. With a big huff and puff, the monster blew fires of anger back at them. Yes, back at them. Unlike Saitama and Genos, Ben was still an average human.

Immediately, the boy leaped out of the way as far as he could, feeling the raging heat behind him engulfing his two compatriots in a blazing inferno. The heat nearly charred his skin past the point of no return. It nearly immolated his clothes as well.

In the aftermath, Saitama and Genos were both seemingly unharmed, though Genos' hair was an entirely different story. It just turned from spiky, pretty boy to blond afro. The sight of Genos' afro hair almost made Ben broke down in laughter. Well, almost.

"He... got me," Genos said weakly. Hearing the cyborg's words, Ben silenced all of his energy to laugh and sharpened his features. Walking up to the monster, Ben prepped the dial, the Omnitrix beeping and clicking with each alien Ben perused in turns.

"Guess it's hero time, then," Ben said after finding his ideal alien. Smiling, Ben activated the Omnitrix and slammed his hand onto the dial, covered in an emerald light the next second.

"RATH!" Standing on two legs, on Ben's place stood a three-meter tall, tailless tiger-like creature with striped orange fur. Carnage Kabuto glared in his direction, somewhat surprised.

"Hm?" Carnage Kabuto blinked twice, genuinely surprised for the first time in his life.

"LEMMIE TELL YOU SOMETHING CARNAGE KABUTO, MOST POWERFUL WARRIOR OF THE HOUSE OF EVOLUTION. RATH IS GONNA KICK YOUR BUTT. THEN HE'S GONNA MAKE YOUR BRAIN CHEW ON ITS STOMACH!"

There was a moment of silence as everyone took in the utterly absurd line, that nobody with more intellect than a child would spout. Each and everyone present, monster, cyborg, and baldy, stared at Rath with wide, blank eyes in stupefied silence.

"...STOP LOOKING AT ME FUNNY!"

Saitama and Genos were confused as to why this form was more aggressive than the others.

"COME ON THEN, SHORT STUFF. SHOW RATH WHAT YOU GOT!"

"...hahahahaha!" Carnage Kabuto started cackling at Rath with mocking eyes glaring at the Tigerman alien.

"You've devolved yourself for this? Why, that's probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen, even for a monster." The monster taunted, intentionally pressing Rath's berserk button.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!" Rath charged at Carnage Kabuto, fist outstretched and thrown at the rhinoceros beetle monster, as the monster did the same with his fist. Their fists met, and a shock wave rippled out from them. Rath and Carnage Kabuto were punching each other so fast it would've been a blur to an ordinary man. However, even an ordinary man could tell that Rath was the slower fighter.

"You've got spunk! But you've got no punch, kitty!" Carnage Kabuto taunted.

"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING CARNAGE KABUTO. RATH IS GONNA SEND YOU BACK TO THE TEST TUBE AND THEN BEAT YOU WITH IT!"

"Hahaha! Show me then!"

At the end of his sentence, Rath slipped through Kabuto's guard and uppercutted Carnage Kabuto below the jaw. He then followed up with a stab to the abdomen with his protruded talon, but Rath's alien claw broke on contact with the monster's carapace. The monster only laughed.

"Thanks a lot, morooon. I was starting to get itchy there for a moment, ehahahaha!"

Rath looked at the chipped claw, a once proud weapon of his species that sundered many villains and weapons of evil now lied broken and torn.

While Rath's still in his stupor, Carnage Kabuto slammed Rath in the jaw with a heavy right hook and sent him flying into the wall. The wall cracked and dug back from the impact, making room for the tiger man and held him in its cold grip.

"Ohhhh, that… ow, that's gonna hurt in the morning. Now Rath's is gonna… oh."

Rath felt that. A lot. He felt as if a starship crashed into him from orbit at light speed and exploded afterward, and it left him disoriented with an aching pain in his jaw. It even knocked energy to rant out of him, leaving him a groaning mess.

"Pain train coming through!"

With heavy steps trembling in his wake, Carnage Kabuto charged at Rath like a rhino, his horn smashing into with Rath's skull right between the eyes.

As a result, Rath married himself more in-depth with the wall, his head completely buried deep while the rest of him went limb.

"Ben!" Genos cried.

"…uggggghhhhh."

Rath pitifully groaned as the dial on his chest blinked green, then flashed crimson in the next second. Ben now laid back on the wall, moaning in pain and defeat.

"Hahahaha! I thought you would put up more of a fight! But you just had to croak and leave a man unsatisfied. I thought your trinket could provide some entertainment, but it's still lacking."

The monster mocked as he laughed, demeaning Ben's efforts in his victory.

"Uggggh… shut up."

Ben's brain pounded with pain at the beat of his heart, his confidence as a hero broken like his body.

Ben expected an easy victory this time, not another overwhelming defeat with the Alien the Omnitrix chose for him, marking this the second time Ben's Omnitrix delivered an alien that could not resolve a conflict, the first being Heatblast unable to defeat the Mosquito Girl and saving Genos.

Before Ben could retort, Saitama walked into the fray, moving towards the monster with a grin. His smile filled with expectations.

"Genos, go check on Ben. I'll handle this guy."

The cyborg darted his eyes between Saitama and Carnage Kabuto in two successions before he nodded in understanding. As Genos headed towards Ben, Carnage Kabuto sized Saitama from head to toe, his gaze licking the baldy's visage with predatory scrutiny, then broke out a belligerent grin.

The caped hero slowly walked with a casual gait towards the large beetle monster, his eyes now bearing a sharp gaze filled with life, and fiery expectations for the monster before his sight.

"Ohhhh, I can feel it. I feel it! You're not like the rest of these guys! You're strong, aren't cha?!" The monster praised upon feeling the energy in the air.

"Don't disappoint me. You're considered this place's ultimate weapon, right? I can tell you're different than the guys I faced this morning." The baldy challenged Kabuto to live up to his expectation, an enticing trial that Kabuto would more than happily take.

"Just look at you. Oozing with confidence," Saitama stopped as he waited, his entire visage shrouded with openings from all sides.

Carnage Kabuto snickered with a broader grin, before vanishing in a blur, reappearing behind Saitama in a split second.

'Fast!' Ben widened his eyes upon seeing such speed. He gritted his teeth upon realizing that the monster was toying with him this whole time, and regretted not going Ultimate as soon as the first exchange.

The monster prepared his heavy fist, ready to slam into Saitama's rear. But right before he could strike, the world blackened around him, dying Saitama in the color of absolute death.

"?!" Kabuto shuddered. His instincts flared to its zenith, screaming at him more than a thousand times per second to escape.

The fear too compelling to ignore, Kabuto jumped back across the whole length of the room, using his buzzing insect wings to extend the distance of his retreat, and backed himself into a white wall. Saitama looked in his direction, confused to why he didn't attack.

Saitama called out, "Hey."

"What are you doing?"

All in the room remained in utter silence, shocked by Kabuto's sudden retreat.

"Hey," Saitama called out again.

Ben blinked. What just happened? Did he back off without landing a single blow?

Ben stared at Kabuto, seeing actual droplets of sweat on the monster's massive carapace, flailing eyes struggling to remain focused and still, and pure hyperventilation born from pure fear coursing through the monster's body.

'He really got scared… this guy…' Ben turned back to Saitama, even more dumbfounded. Compared to his previous feats, Saitama actually managed to intimidate a monster. No, the first time a monster sensed the true depths of Saitama's enigmatic might.

"You bastard!" Carnage Kabuto roared with panic.

"How the hell did you get that strong?!" The monster demanded with gritted teeth.

"""..."""

Silence descended the room like a tangible veil, leaving only the sound of Kabuto's deep audible breaths to pass by their ears. Words stuck in the throats of all but Saitama. Each of the souls lying there injured looked at the scene trying to form words that cannot form no matter what while waiting for the impassive baldy to respond.

After several tense seconds, Saitama's features became severe.

"So you wanna know too?"

Ben widened his eyes.

'No… is he really?'

"Okay fine. Genos, Ben, make sure you guys listen too." Ben sat up rubbing his head.

"He's gonna say his secret?" Ben asked aloud, unsure if this was the best moment to spill.

"I'd like to know too."

Entering the room was an injured man. The very founder of the House of Evolution himself.

"Who are you?" Saitama asked.

"I am Genus. I am the founder of the House of Evolution, with the end goal of discovering all the secrets of evolution itself. If you forgive my intrusion, I implore you to reveal the secrets behind your power," Genus humbly inquired.

"Well, fine. Listen up."

Genos helped Ben to his feet. Ben continued staring at Saitama with a complicated mix of worry and anticipation welling in his gut. Worry because the secret to his power will fall in the wrong hands. And the anticipation of having his nagging question finally answered.

"First what's important is to make sure you stick to this intense training regimen."

'Training? Someone can get that strong just by training?'

Knowing Saitama, he doesn't seem to be the kind of person that can use mutagens to get that strong. Still, Ben thought that Saitama got that strong through some freak accident or was part alien like Kevin or Gwen.

"Listen, Genos. Ben."

'Just what kind of training could it be?' Ben bit his lips as his imagination ran wild.

"You just have to keep doing it. No matter how hard it gets. It took me three years to get this strong."

At the climax of the reveal, Saitama's aura flared, instilling an indescribable power to his words. Despite the content that followed.

"One hundred push-ups! One hundred sit-ups! One hundred squats! And a ten-kilometer run! Every single day!"

"Hn?!" Ben and the others skipped a breath upon hearing the contents.

"And of course, make sure you eat three meals every day. A banana in the morning is fine. But the most important thing is never to use the AC in the summer of winter so you can strengthen the mind. You might start thinking, 'What's the harm of taking a day off?' But for me, to be a strong hero, no matter how tough it was. Even if I was spitting blood, I never stopped. I kept doing squats when my legs were so heavy the refused to move."

Eyes popping out his sockets and jaw drawing out of abject disbelief, Ben stared at the bald man as if he was insane. There must be something that the Baldy left out in his training regimen.

"...Even when my arms started making weird clicking noises, I kept doing pushups. A year and a half later, I started to notice a difference. I was bald, and I was strong. In other words, you must train like hell until your hair falls out. That's the only way to become strong."

Ben's head fell to the floor. He did not know why Saitama continued speaking as if he believed the importance of such trivial training.

"Anyone fooling around with 'evolution' or the 'new human race' junk will never make it this far. Human beings are strong because we have the ability to change ourselves."

"..." However, the only response Saitama received was…

"Master… you are so…. FULL OF CRAP!" Genos shouted.

"Huh?" Saitama only responded with an impassive 'huh.'

Despite being injured, Ben couldn't help but agree with the Cyborg.

"You're holding out on us. There has to be something else. What else did you do in your 'three-year training regimen?' I know people that trained harder than that, and even they don't get that strong," Ben interjected. Most of the villains Ben fought resorted to genetic or technological routes for a good reason. They need them to move further than their limits allowed.

"He's right… that is nothing but standard training! It is not even intense! It's just a normal level!"

Genos raised a clenching fist, his mechanical fingers digging into his latex palm so hard it might scratch his skin off.

"I-I have to get stronger. I didn't ask to study under you only to be told jokes!" Genos barked with all of his emotion, releasing his years of anguish and suffering in those words.

"...Master Saitama. Your power is clearly more than what physical training could allow! We want to know your true secret!"

"Genos…. Ben, you may not believe me, but that's really all I did."

His answer left Genos and Ben in shocked silence.

"...seriously?"

'Lies.'

Ben made a mental note to scan Saitama's body later on, and maybe use Brainstorm or Grey Matter to shed some light behind the secret to Saitama's power. He might go Ultimate as well to further his thought processes.

"Oh yeah?" Carnage Kabuto said. The monster's body started to change. Muscles expanding, teeth sharpening, color darkening to purple with glowing green, and size growing. His aura was turning more menacing and dangerous, his bloodlust growing more tangible by the second.

"No, Carnage Kabuto! If you rampage, there's no telling what kind of damage you'll inflict!" Dr. Genus pleaded, his tone laced with genuine fear.

"If you don't wanna tell us your secret, so be it." The monster grew until its carapace started to fall off.

The lights in the building started to flash red, and an alarm blared.

"I bet you aren't stronger than me, anyways!" The monster growled, his bloodlust becoming so tangible that even Ben can taste it.

Ben shuddered, feeling an indescribable chill infesting his spine and crawling all the way into his mind.

What Ben didn't know was the feeling that gripped his very soul… was fear. Pure, instinctual fear for the first time in his life. Ben never experienced this level of bloodlust ever since the Omnitrix slapped onto his wrist.

The reason why it took so long for him to feel his mortality laid bare for the first time was his watch. The Omnitrix was the sole reason why he could ignore such feelings, the device acting as his guardian for the rest of his years.

It was like Ben was face to face with death and fear fused into a monstrous form, one ready to end his fragile life in a split second.

"But since you pissed me off, I'm gonna annihilate you." Carnage Kabuto's body was now purple with bright green in numerous cracks on his body.

Saitama's expression radiated only confusion and slight disinterest, his face wordlessly saying 'so?'

"When I get like this I lose control for a whole week. I'll be on a rampage until next Saturday. My lust for death cannot be doused unless you still my heart forever!" He roared.

Ben did not like the warning. Something about this version of Carnage Kabuto screamed 'danger' to his very core.

Vanishing in a blur, Carnage Kabuto delivered a punch to Saitama that sent him flying across the room.

'Saitama?' Ben watched as Saitama was thrown around like a ragdoll.

He helplessly watched as Carnage Kabuto punched him so hard, Saitama bounced around like a rubber ping pong ball, pounded him into the ground in a furious assault, relaunched the baldy with an uppercut, and so on all the while screaming 'death' with every strike.

Ben only watched as when Carnage Kabuto was about to deliver the final blow, pouring all of his killing intent into this punch, one that actually seemed able to end the invincible baldy once and for all…

One for Saitama to splattered all of Carnage Kabuto's upper body with a screaming uppercut, while bearing a face of panic and fear.

Saitama screamed bloody murder, "I screwed up!"

Dr. Genus looked both confused and shocked, so shocked that he didn't even care that his glasses dangled off.

Ben was even more shocked upon seeing the baldy whose red fist drank the blood, guts, and souls of countless monsters reduced another seemingly strong monster with just a single punch again. Or more accurately, shocked about the sudden unexpected gore. What's worse was how the jawless head of Carnage Kabuto fell in front of him. Even much worse when Ben accidentally caught it in his hands on reflex, feeling the slimy texture of blood and gore trickling his fingers.

"Oh, god-" Ben dropped the remains and started retching his stomach again, puking his guts into the bright white floor of the combat room.

He remained there for some time, suffering from nausea as Saitama and Genos blasted a hole in the wall and ran out in a hurry. He barely caught the words of Dr. Genus muttering to himself, drowning the rest of the world in his time of suffering until his nausea died.

He remained there for thirty minutes, just to head back home via XLR8 and dumped himself into his bed, too tired to even eat or shower, and quietly died in his slumber groaning in gastric pain.

* * *

Upon opening his eyes from his awakened slumber, what greeted Benjamin Kirby Tennyson was the sight of an ethereal starlit night, illuminating nebulas of all manners dancing across the void with three moons prominently dotting his field of vision. Coruscating, frisking colors shrouded each of the satellites, giving them kaleidoscopic distinction from the other. Comets zipped across his vision. And starlight shone, some brighter than the others creating unique constellations that Ben was sure did not exist back home, especially the one bearing the abstract shape of a horned demon.

Even so, it was an awestruck sight, one no man or alien could ever reproduce. A scene that existed beyond the scope of mortal imagination, one that only nature could draw.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"!"

Aroused by the sudden voice, Ben lifted his head and pushed himself on his seat, darting left and right in search of the sound. Instead, he widened his eyes in astonishment upon finding himself literally in Bellwood. With a Mr. Smoothie store at his left.

"The stars and infinite void holds such wonders, no? No one knows what lies beyond, always holding miracles that defy one's precepts of truth."

Turning his head back, Ben saw… the back of a crimson humanoid being, one sitting cross-leg in the air, levitating a few feet above the grey concrete. His gaze was upward, staring at the very stars above.

What was more shocking was how close he was, sitting behind him all this time unnoticed.

"Ahfjduwhrjfigusne!"

Panicking, Ben scuttled back away and hovered his hand over the Omnitrix, but upon a brief glance, Ben caught his watch's absence, now realizing his defenselessness in his time of crisis.

"Hm, do not bother. No harm will come to you. Save your strength."

The being advised, turning his head to Ben, allowing the child to see his features.

Upon closer inspection, Ben noticed he had an eerily, striking resemblance to a Celestialsapien. Only this one was red, had only one eye that burned like a white star, while the rest of his facial features distorted in scintillating scarlet flares. As for his body, instead of stars dotting the night sky, Ben saw what seemed to be a white sun veiled in crimson gas-wreathed flames.

"W-What are you? Who are you?! What'd you do with the Omnitrix?!" Ben fires his questions like a machine gun, desperate to quell the panic and unease stemming from his sense of vulnerability without his Omnitrix.

"Why ask when you know what I am already? As for who, you'll find out soon enough."

As he spoke, Ben noticed the distinct lack of echo in his voice, the absence of the second voice that he heard from Celestialsapiens in general. There was only one voice and one alone.

"Y-You…"

"Surprised? Yes, take it all in. I'm the first one of my kind that can survive without my significant other."

Ben's jaw slacked, hanging limply from shock. The fact that a unique Celestialsapien with unknown abilities trapped him in god knows where finally sunk in his dense skull.

"As for why you're here, it is simple. I wish to inspect what The Star of White Fate sent here. And why he sent a boy along with a device not meant for children here."

Without any prior sign, the crimson Celestialsapien was instantly inspecting Ben closely face-to-face while still levitating in his lotus position. Ben froze out of shock; his space invaded without him even noticing, wanting to move but the fear coursing through him freezing his muscles in place.

"...hmmm."

His eye was piercing, his monocular gaze latched onto every fiber of Ben's being.

"I still cannot understand why he sent you here… just what does he see in you?" The Red Celestialsapien muttered, his soft voice loud enough for Ben to hear.

Confused by his opinion, Ben tentatively asked, "W-What do you mean?"

"Hmmm, nothing for concern. For now…" The Red one leaned back, retreating away, leaving Ben more room to breathe.

Ben relaxed, releasing all of his tensions in all exhaustive breath, but the fear still pounded within him like a heartbeat.

"...what do you want from me?" Ben asked, getting to the point, no longer frivolous in tone or gait. A cold sweat ran down his forehead, unsure what fate the red Celestialsapien has in store for him.

"Nothing."

"..." Ben remained silent from his surprising answer. If he wanted nothing, then why did he drag Ben here?

"But I return your question. I see a shadow gnawing the light of your soul. Do you wish to speak your woes?" The Red Celestialsapien asked back.

"...what? Nothing' is going on in-"

"You of all people should know that it is futile to lie to a Celestialsapien. Even to one such as me. And the consequences of such deception depending on the individual."

Ben's denial was instantly shot back with a warning. And Ben grimaced, unable to deny that he had no room for negotiation.

"...alright, fine. I'll confess! You happy?!" Ben threw his arms up, frustrated that he's being forced to profess himself with no room for rejection.

"...It's… it's just this world. I mean, it never happened before. No matter the situation, the Omnitrix never failed me in my time of need. No matter how much of a disadvantage I'm in, or how dangerous. I always come out of it one way or another with no problems but-"

"You've failed to save lives. More than once. Of course, you would. This is what happens when you fight with a power you cannot control in the first place. The only reason why you didn't experience anything like this back home is your luck. And your luck alone." The Red Celestialsapien interrupted, relentlessly chastising Ben for his faults. For his arrogance immediately.

"..."

"Speechless, aren't you? For someone like you, there are many. And I do not understate the term, many. That will loathe your existence, boy."

"...why?" Ben asked, oblivious to the meaning behind his words.

"It would be more effective for you to discover the answer on your own. You have a bad tendency to ignore advice and follow your own voice."

The Red Celestialsapien stated, leaving Ben stupefied with his cryptic statement. Judging from his words, Ben had a good idea that this alien was aware of his existence long before he came in this world, and knew him just as well as everyone else on Earth and beyond.

"What'd you mean, you…" Ben trailed off, finding it difficult to give him a nickname.

"You may term me Ersi."

"E-Ersi?" Ben blinked, finding the name… simple, yet unique in its own way.

"Yes. As for you, tell me. How is your stay here? In this land far away from your home?" Ersi asked, as the landscape soon changed around them, warping and reforming like a reflection in a lake disturbed by ripples into a new place, while the skies remained unchanged until the area around them was the familiar concrete jungle of City Z. More specifically, Saitama's devastated neighborhood.

Seeing Saitama's environment, Ben blinked in rumination, his eyes to the left, wandering up the building Saitama calls home. Recalling the days and encounters here.

"…if there is one word that truly expresses my thoughts. I'd say crazy. I mean, I've seen strange things back home, but none of them trumps what I've seen here."

"Hahaha, a world so similar to your own, yet so foreign it could be considered alien. I can sympathize such feelings," Ersi nodded in understanding.

Hearing him laugh, Ben relaxed his guard. Ersi seemed like such an amiable alien. Ben did not know how or what he did to bring him here while simultaneously disarming him of the Omnitrix, but hopefully he might return him home unharmed with his signature Omnitrix at his wrist.

Ben decided to question Ersi, on the matters of the world.

"…so, if you are a… Celestialsapien and you're not here to kill me or something like that, do you mind if I ask some questions?" Ben asked, trying not to sound intrusive, to not give Ersi incentive to cause harm.

"It depends on what burdens your mind. Ask." Ersi waved his arm in a humble gesture, allowing Ben the privilege.

"…um, first… what are you?"

"You already know."

"I mean, what kind of Celestialsapien are you. Where is your other half?" Ben clarifies, wanting to know why a Celestialsapien with a singular conscience existed. Or how one came to be in the first place.

"A good question. But not one I'm willing to answer." Ersi smirked. He may not have any facial features besides the single eye, but Ben could tell he did smirk.

"Okay…" Ben muttered.

'Jerk.' Ersi might be the first Celestialsapien he met possessing attitude.

"If you think that's rude, then you're in for a rude awakening. We will meet again. Give the one you call Starbeard my regards the next time you see him," Ersi turned away, levitating away as he ended their conversation.

"What do you…" Ben stopped as a wave of nausea struck him by the storm. Killing the strength in his knees, forcing Ben into collapse. His eyelids turned to stone, growing heavier and heavier by the second as he fell into slumber against his will.

* * *

*GASP*

Ben woke up. He rose from his bed, wide awake as if awoken from a nightmare. Except in place of lingering terror, confusion took its place. Looking around, he saw his bedroom, and then the rest of his small apartment he rented.

"…a dream?"

Ben knew that was no dream. It felt real. Too real. Even the one-eyed red Celestialsapien felt too convincingly tangible to consider as a mere illusion.

"…what the heck was that about?" Ben now had more questions than ever before. One that might remain unanswered for quite a while.

 **Author here. So, thoughts? Yeah, such a long time. Had trouble thinking how I should change and revise the contents. And other fics. Anyways, yep. What do you think of Ersi? Previously, he is called the Astral Warmonger by the previous Author. I added quite a bit of character into him, making him more than just a crazy Celestialsapien. As for his story, I will not tell. Telling would spoil the surprise hehe. Also, need capable co-writer. ASAP, ;_;**


	5. Chapter 5: There's a Hero Association?

**Author here. As for those who thought I am doing Assassin of Bellwood. Think again. I refuse to write that boring story. That was SpaceEngineer643's idea on a whim, and even he abandoned it for a reason. If you want to write that story, do it yourself. I don't know where any of you got the idea that I am taking that story as well. It got posted up for adoption long before Space retired, and even I didn't plan to adopt it then. So don't think I am working on it now.**

* * *

Clouds hovered around City Z, coloring the horizon over the land in dull grey. The mask of grey blotting the cheerful blue and the golden sun, forbidding even the smallest ray from illuming the land.

An emerald green comet zipped through the skies, wandering above the seemingly quiet city. The petite woman of S-Class, the Tornado of Terror, watched over the town in search for the Hourglass Monster. The Hero Association triangulated the highest concentration of these monster sightings around this area. Tatsumaki volunteered herself to be the search party, and herself alone, the reason behind her motives being that of boredom.

Her eyes scoured the land, past the buildings dominating her panorama, wary of anything with a two-part green and black hourglass symbol playing the role of a hero. However, nothing came up in her field of view, only peaceful silence and a gnawing hunger for sweets irritating her stomach.

After a couple of hours of searching, she flew down to a bakery, in need of a quick snack before resuming her search. As she approached the door, an evacuation siren exploded into a grating blare without warning, igniting fear and panic in the civilians around her.

"Five hundred yen it'll be Tiger," Tatsumaki muttered out of boredom, attempting to entertain herself with fate.

"[Warning, the threat level is Tiger. All citizens, please seek shelter in the nearest building.]" The usual female announcer declared through the speakers.

"Knew it," she sighed.

Fortunately for her, the monster was near, entering the corner of her vision. Entering the scene was a monster with thick stubby legs. Its body was thin and shaped like an oval, had a rough dark blue texture, and possessed six tentacles with what looked like mouths on the ends of each slime-slickened tip.

Already bored, Tatsumaki popped the monster in a confetti of blood and guts with just a flick of her finger, not even giving the monster a second glance as she opened the doors of the bakery with thoughts entertaining the possibility of new sweets on display.

However, what she did not notice was a young man with short brown hair and green eyes, one wearing jeans and a green jacket. A jacket colored in white stripe, one vertically streaking each flap, with the number 10 etched on the left side. The young man had a watch with a black and green hourglass dial on his left, ready to smash the dial but soon lowered his arms upon seeing the monster pasted.

"...huh," Ben uttered.

"So even a little girl can turn monsters to paste in this world."

Unsurprised by her feat and since she resolved the dilemma in a Saitama-like fashion, Ben returned his attention to his stroll as he resumed his self-contemplation.

Days had passed since his 'encounter' with his first Alien since coming to this world. Genos disappeared for repairs, his locations unknown to the wielder of the Omnitrix. Saitama was… engaged in his usual activities.

Ben cleaned himself up and returned to his duties, albeit not without a mental burden weighing his mind. His thoughts flashed back to the days after he first received the Omnitrix, his struggles and accomplishments.

"...was I really just lucky?"

Ruminating in deep thought, Ben couldn't deny that Ersi's words held merit to some extent. But he refused to chalk his feats to his luck alone. Ben denied it.

Regardless of the situation, Ben adapted accordingly to the aliens fate bestowed upon him, and with great effort, managed to overcome any dilemma at the end of the day no matter how dire.

"...if I'm really lucky, I wouldn't be here, banished to a crazy world where a baldy can one-punch anything into a bloody paste and little girls popping monsters with a flick of her finger," Ben scoffed to himself, now in staunch defense of his worth.

Whatever Ersi said, it no longer mattered at this point. Right now, Ben would need to continue his job as a hero like he always did. And if he stayed his course, everything will work itself out in the end. He convinced himself that he only underestimated the monsters somewhat, an error in judgment and mindset.

Even so, he cannot help but feel like an outsider. Not as a human from another world, but as a hero that found a place he cannot belong. Ben cannot explain where such feelings originated, but it might be linked to the baldy somewhat. Just what made Saitama so different than him as a hero?

"[Warning, a group of terrorists is terrorizing the city. Please avoid any suspicious criminals on sight immediately.]"

However, his thoughts were interrupted by the announcer amidst the revived emergency sirens.

"Well, no rest for the wicked. It's hero time!"

Ben rushed towards the disturbance with his watch at the ready and slammed the dial into action.

" **XLR8**!"

XLR8 started his sprint toot sweet, his legs sprinting at max capacity. However, after a few seconds, he realized two things. One, he was still in the same spot, not moving whatsoever. Two, he cannot feel the ground under his spherical feet.

Confused, he looked down, seeing himself levitating a few inches above the solid ground.

"Uh, why am I flying?" XLR8 rhetorically spoke out loud.

"I am happening. Do you know how hard I've been searching for you, Hourglass Monster?" A young, childish voice spoke behind him.

* * *

"Mmmm, I love cheesecake-stuffed croissants."

Tatsmumaki exited the sweet shop with a mouth full of confectionary, nibbling the treat like a mouse. A flash of emerald emerged from the corner of her eye, attracting her attention to the source to see…

A blue, black-striped monster with black spherical wheels for its digitigrade feet while bearing the body structure of a raptor with a somewhat humanoid face, albeit with a black spike for a head.

The adult loli immediately hung her jaw low and dropped the confectionary in her mouth.

"!" Tatsumaki recognized the monster from the reports. She memorized all the monsters that appeared in each of the cities attempting to resolve crisis after crisis with her highly advanced mind.

She, The S-Class Number Two, refused to let a monster of all things get the slip on her. Immediately, conjuring her psychic might, she rose to the air and trapped the monster's unique biosignature to her will, holding the thing into place as she casually lifted it with little to no effort.

Tatsumaki had an image to uphold after all.

"Alright, Hourglass Posse. Tell me where's the rest of your friends are so we can have a nice, long chat. Or do you want to play hard to get?"

"…sorry, but who are you exactly?"

The blue raptor thing's voice was slightly high-pitched, but he spoke as fast as each word pressed in a typewriter.

"Wha-don't you know me?! I'm the S-Class Rank 2, the Tornado of Terror!"

"…who? I'm sorry, but aren't you a little too young to play hero, girlie."

"!"

Her cheeks were red with outrage, now tempted by the impulse of violence to tear this alien apart piece by piece.

"Alright, I'll give you one last chance to lead me to your Hourglass club. If not, I will pop you like a balloon with a snap of my finger. I don't think you want to see red all over the streets, do you?"

To augment her threat, she took the head of the Tiger monster she shredded behind her, lifting it as if telekinetically in the air before, to Ben's shock, popping it like a balloon, only this time the blood exploded instead of harmless helium.

'Oh, crap.'

XLR8's heart skipped a beat. She can do it. She could actually pop him as she did with that other monster. A gory image of a mutilated XLR8 decorating the streets vividly ran through his mind. Worse, he did not know her level of power compared with that of the baldy's.

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you! Just put me down!"

The blue chitonous raptor flailed his arms and legs in a panic, earning a smirk from the sadistic demon child.

"Good."

The girl released her hold on him, dropped him down. The blue raptor glared at her in response, now irritated by her sassy demeanor, never finding anyone as rude as her since… since…

'Actually, now that I think about it. Which one's the rudest?'

Vilgax was arrogantly blunt and belligerent; Dark Star was hedonistic and inconsiderate, Psychobos was delusional beyond help, Dr. Animo was averse to humanity in general, and…

Well, there was Gwen when she was ten. Now that was a coarse and condescending girl he could compare with. Although he cannot deny that he was also to blame for her obnoxiousness since those days.

"Now, tell me where the rest of your pals or we'll do this the hard way," the green-haired child demanded with a haughty harrumph.

Ben felt like socking her once or twice. Assuming that he'll have the chance to use the Omnitrix.

While they chatted, a crowd slowly gathered around Tatsumaki and XLR8. Men, women and even the rare children circled XLR8, all sizing the blue alien with curiosity.

"Well, as for your information, girlie, I have no 'posse.'"

The terrorist threat would have to wait. Right now he must clear up tensions lest the sparks will endanger both city and civilians in the conflict.

Slamming the dial on his chest, in a flash of emerald light, XLR8 reverted to human form in a split second, a brown-haired boy with a green jacket taking the place of the alien.

"The name's Ben Tennyson, the Wielder of the Omnitrix. I'm not from around here so that you know, and I am not a monster in human form. I'm completely human. So don't splat me at a whim."

The crowd gasped, some backing away from Ben upon witnessing a 'monster' transform into a human. Others stayed to watch, staring at Ben's form with even more curiosity.

"…huh, that's new, I admit. Are there others like you?" The girl asked, amazed that Hourglass monster could impress her to this extent. When she volunteered, it was not only from the hope of a challenge but also heavily laced with the expectation for disappointment, most of her believing that the Hourglass monsters won't amount to her standards. However, 'Ben' has proven her wrong.

"Nope."

Ben turned the dial on his watch again and slammed the alien of his choice.

" **Swampfire**!"

Replacing Ben, a new inhuman stood before Tatsumaki and the crowd, one with vines for a body with his head surrounded by garnet petals acting as his fiery mane.

"So that you know, I am all of those 'monsters' you seek. What you saw is one of my alien forms, you see."

Unlike before, his voice was like gravel gargled in mud, but much more masculine and mature compared to his human voice.

Tatsumaki, this time, gasped in surprise. She was never surprised to this extent before. The adult in a child's body smiled with excitement swelling in her heart to the point of bursting.

"Alright, I told you my name. Care to tell me yours this time, missy?" Swampfire asked with a tone of dwindling patience.

"Hmph," she merely scoffed with a tinge of amusement, already growing fond of this illogical anomaly known as Ben Tennyson.

"Since you've entertained me, I shall pardon your offense just this once. You're standing before the Hero Association's Number Two Hero, The Tornado of Terror, Tatsumaki."

"Hero Association?" Swampfire's mental processes slowed to a halt for a brief second.

"There's a Hero Association?" He asked again for confirmation.

Tatsumaki blinked upon hearing his unexpected question.

"…have you been living under a rock?"

Tilting his head, Swampfire shrugged with confusion. Technically, he was a multiversal immigrant exiled to an alien world, so she was not incorrect in a sense.

"Well, I didn't see anyone proclaiming as a Hero Associate in the recent disasters… not a single one. How many of you guys are out there, by the way?"

Tatsumaki dropped her jaw at his question in abject disbelief. To think she would meet someone so ignorant and clueless, especially from a monster.

"Wha-there are hundreds of us! Hell, there are countless C-Class heroes on patrol daily! Don't tell me you didn't see any of them?!"

"…"

Rolling his eyes up and right, Swampfire tried to recall any other heroes that he might've missed. The various minor disasters that he solved with ease, minus the ones that required Saitama to resolve personally.

One time there was a cactus monster surrounded by weirdly costumed bodies that underwent dangerous acupuncture treatments to look like human porcupines. So many spines dotted them, they were unrecognizable regarding facial recognition, so Ben casually called an ambulance for them after defeating the monster.

Another time, it involved a skunk-monster that shot rancid, tar-like goop from its mouth and buttocks. Ben didn't feel like touching the thing, so he used Gravattack to crush it into paste. Casualties were present at the scene, but they survived with their lives intact, albeit with the cost of foul odors clinging to their skins and clothes that were seemingly unwashable. Ben did notice a cape sticking from one of the human feces.

The third was a group of costumed weirdos fighting a monster with two monocular heads and four arms. The weirdos fought the monster. The monster wiped the floor with them before they even moved. Ben called for an ambulance again, dismissing the bizarre scene as posers playing hero.

"There were a group of weirdos trying to fight a monster that one time… got wiped out like newbies though. Stood in for them before they got killed. Even called the ambulance on them," Swampfire mentioned, staring at Tatsumaki while waiting for the mental alarm clock to set off finally.

It only took three seconds before it clicked, connecting the unusual people to an unlikely profession.

"Wait, those weirdos were heroes?" Swampfire asked, completely and utterly surprised that the casualties were heroes.

"…Okay, I don't blame you for mistaking those weaklings as weirdos. Nevermind."

Shaking her head, Tatsumaki realized her blunder upon remembering that they were not S-Class. Even a person living under a rock wouldn't consider them heroes, especially from his point of view, now that she mulled it over as vivid images of monsters mauling screaming C and B-Class fodder flashed through her psychic mind.

"Anyways, the Hero Association wants me to bring you to them. Something about you being the first friendly monster or something but whatever. The point is, they want you to work for them."

"Oh."

Swampfire slammed the Omnitrix, reverting to human form in a flash of emerald.

"By the way, the forms I take? They're not monsters. They're genuine aliens, naturally born like you guys," Ben pointed out.

"Haaaah?"

Tatsumaki quirked a brow with disinterest.

"What's the difference?" She thoughtlessly asked.

"They don't harm people randomly without reason. And can be friendly," Ben emphasized the last word.

The eavesdropping crowd around them murmured from the conversation, seeing Ben in a new light.

"Whatever. The point is, the bosses want you, and I'm going to bring you to them whether you like it or not. Be it in one piece or pieces. Capiche?"

Ben's left eye twitched, reaching his limit with her childish arrogance and haughty disrespect. Saitama was rude in some cases, but at least he was more respectful to others. Her rudeness was on twenty-four/seven.

"...fine. Just take me there, so I don't have to hear your ego speak anymore."

"You wanna die?" Veins popped under her skull; her glare turned cold and dark.

"If you're gonna do it in public, the Association must be pretty open to accepting even a murderer in their ranks."

Tatsumaki ground her teeth at the remark, raising a clenching fist that was trembling with rage for a moment, before slowly venting her anger with slow, calming breaths.

"Follow me before things get ugly, punk."

Tatsumaki 'Hmphed,' with sass, turning away in her exiting leave out the scene. The cordon of civilians parted in her wake, giving Tatsumaki clear passage unobstructed.

Smirking over his victory, Ben obliged and followed her without a word.

* * *

A tall rectangular skyscraper of onyx loomed over Ben, its edges rectilinear and sharp, the sides flat and divested of any windows in sight yet refracts the white, bright glare of the noon sun, obstructing the view of any unwanted outsiders and protecting those within. Compared with the alien architecture that constructed Plumber HQ and the tower of Billy Baxton, this one was simple, human in design and concept.

That was Ben's impression of the exterior. The interior, however, was much significantly more mundane compared with the outer appearance. If Ben was honest, the inside looked no different than a regular office worker's environment. Only this time with more emphasis on the importance of their duties to the Hero Association.

Within what could consider as the office where employers appraise their future employees, Ben sat on a simple chair of polished mahogany, his rear sinking into the cushion, while staring at an array of suits before him. One of them possess a mechanical eye at his right, the other reminded Ben of Grandpa Max but with a large bulbous nose, and the third was very attractive to the eye, making Ben wonder how old the woman was to work here despite her face looking so young.

Not only that, Tatsumaki levitated behind Ben, assigned as a guard to ensure not a single incident. Ben wished that she stop searing a burning glare at the back of his skull.

"So… why am I here again?" Ben carelessly asked the reason for his presence here already skipping his already-too-short memory.

"…Mr. Tennyson, is it?" The big-nosed man responded for the rest.

"Before we start our interview, I wish to clarify on a certain matter."

The round man placed a visually appealing cell phone on the table, which in turn somehow activated the furniture's secret function. A set of translucent holograms appeared above their desk, each depicting almost every alien Ben utilized during the time he was here, ranging from Humungousaur to the multiplying Echo Echo.

"Would you like to explain your relationship with these… monsters?"

Ben sighed the moment the word 'monster' exhaled his lips. He confirmed today will indeed become a long day.

Tatsumaki answered, "They're all actually the same person."

She pointed to Ben.

"This guy can somehow transform into any of the monsters using that watch doohickey."

While all the other heroes tended to have one specialization, this guy could change into numerous different forms to suit his needs depending on the situation.

"Stop calling my alien forms monsters! Seriously! There's an actual difference!" Ben shouted, already having more than enough.

"Whatever." The green-haired brat only rolled her eyes without giving Ben a cent.

"...screw it. Let me just introduce myself again. I'm Ben Tennyson. And in short, I can transform into numerous different _aliens_ when I fight. Not monsters. But _a-l-i-e-_ n-s. Do you get me?" Ben exasperated the word for confirmation.

"...so, to summarize your explanation, you can transform into… extraterrestrial lifeforms?" The one with the mechanical eye asked.

"Yeah, I can. I can turn into any kind of alien, and each of them kicks butt, you know? I can't blame you for mistaking them for monsters, but seriously. Show some effort, people."

Ben complained to the suits athwart him.

"Hmmm, while I admit our incapability to discern the difference of each non-human species, but that is not the point of our interview here."

This time, the attractive woman with the short black hair spoke up.

"We are here to question your stance between humans and monsters."

"I'm here to save lives, simple as that."

"...really? So, you do not mind if the monsters are slain?" The man with the big round nose insistently queried.

"Well, I rather not try to kill them but if I have to, I will."

Although, the number of times Ben was forced to kill could be counted on one hand. No matter how many times he did it, he just couldn't adapt to the sensation of blood spilling on his hands. He felt as if he committed mass murder sometimes.

"I see. Well, Mister Ben Tennyson, I will skip the idle pleasantries. Given your feats and your sympathies proved to lie within those of humanity, we have decided to invite you to become a part of our Hero's astounding ranks amongst the S-Class. Would you accept to be part of our Association's upper echelons?"

Upon hearing Sitch declare his intention of inviting Ben, Tatsumaki dropped her jaw as her gaze burned a searing hole in the back of Ben's skull.

"What? Him!? What are you guys thinking?! Why would you invite him to be an S-Class Member when he can't even defend himself without… turning into one of those things?! What if someone decides to one-shot him before he could have a chance to react?!"

As for Ben, despite her angry disparagement inciting his ire at the cost of his ego, Ben casually raised a hand and asked.

"What's S-Class?"

"""..."""

"See?! He doesn't even know about the Hero Association when I met him! Ban him or lock him up or something!" Tatsumaki ranted to strengthen her point.

"I object to that," Ben indignantly rebuked.

Sighing, Sitch turned to Tatsumaki, his lips one of a frown.

"Very well, Tatsumaki. You will be assigned as Mr. Tennyson's guide, and educator on the matters of the Hero Association, since it seems he originates from a place outside our current knowledge where the Hero Association has little to no influence," Sitch expertly presented his solution.

"What? No! I don't wanna!" Tatsumaki vehemently protested against such an idea.

"There is no one else able to handle our unpredictable guest at this very moment. We have the utmost confidence that you can dispatch Mr. Tennyson with poise should he ever decided to instigate mayhem," the man with the mechanical eye explained, placating Tatsumaki's ire via stroking her planet-sized ego.

"...well, if you put it that way… can I kill him if he decides to be difficult?"

"Yes, you may do so if you are assured of his instability," The woman nodded in agreement.

"I am not alright with that."

Ben objected even more vehemently than before, but his voice fell on deaf ears.

"Alright, I'm good. Come, kid. I gotta give you the tour. Make things difficult and I will 'splat' you at the speed of thought."

She warned as she levitated towards the door, but not without dragging Ben along the way via telekinesis, enveloping the fifteen-year-old boy in her emerald psychic hold before lifting him as he followed Tatsumaki against his will.

Along the way, Ben merely sighed as he allowed her to take him for a walk, like an owner with their pet dog, completely and utterly helpless against the lethal stubbornness of a green-haired brat that can splatter him at any moment's notice at her mercurial whim.

 **Still looking for that co-writer lol. One signed up, but he bailed due to family issues. An editor/beta would also be preferable.**

 **Also, if you read Chapter 1 again, you will see some major improvement in the chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6: Doubt and Hope

Within the sleek, metal corridors of the Hero Association Headquarters in City A, under the illuminating ceiling light, a groan filled the somewhat silent air, followed by a complaint to the sassy child telekinetically pulling him by the metaphorical leash.

"Alright, alright. I saw everything in your headquarters. Can you put me down now?" Ben groaned, already reached his limit with the bratty child they call Tatsumaki, The Tornado of Terror, S-Class Number two and one of the Hero Association's greatest weapons against Dragon-Class monsters, the highest level monsters the Hero Association encountered to this day.

While dragged through the building, Ben learned many things. One, Heroes here were ranked from C to S, with C being the lowest, and S being the highest rank there was.

As for the monster and disaster hierarchy, they ranged from Disaster Level Wolf, Tiger, Demon, Dragon, and, finally, God. So far, the world did not encounter a God Level threat, only dragon monsters like the one known as Beefcake. Ben inquired specifics, details, and examples for each rank.

According to Tatsumaki, and the pamphlet specially designed for upcoming S-Class Heroes, civilians can defeat Wolf-Level monsters, or any B or C-Class depending on environmental and ability factors. Tiger Level threats require A-Class and, if needed, a group of B-Class to fight. As for Demon, only S-Class can handle them, Dragon Class reserved for the higher S-Class heroes as well.

As for Demon Level threats, there were a few Ben could consider as Demon. Estimating Genos as S-Class and the few mutants from the House of Evolution, Ben rated the cyborg gorilla as Demon Level. The Beast King, on the other hand, Ben placed between Demon to Dragon. Somewhere around Dragon in the lower levels considering his destructive might before Saitama offed him like always.

Carnage Kabuto was indefinitely Dragon. Anything that can decimate an unevolved Rath was something enough. Carnage Kabuto convinced Ben that not even Ultimate Rath could defeat him, not after witnessing his blood-curling berserk mode.

For examples in the Hero category, using a reference for C-Class, Tatsumaki compared them to the ones Ben most likely met when he was unaware, unable to handle monsters that only a group of people can beat up.

For S Class, Tatsumaki mentioned her abilities, tearing giant monsters with her psychic might, rending flesh from bone and grinding bone to dust. Her extremely graphic depiction reminded Ben of a certain caped baldy one-punching all the monsters seemingly belong in the Dragon category with ease, wearing his usual irritating poker face.

Back to the classes, C-Class Heroes were obligated to actively patrol and contribute to society, lest they're compelled to leave the Association's ranks for good. In blunter terms, the Hero Association will fire any slackers that failed to live up to their occupation and name. Only when a hero achieved B-Class or higher would they no longer suffer such deadlines.

As for the S-Class Heroes, Ben took his time memorizing their names and abilities via pamphlet, one limited only to a small number of individuals detailing the lives and skillsets of the Association's trump cards against the most dangerous of monsters. While A-Class heroes did possess somewhat high-level members, the S-Class was far above them, actual superhumans compared to the rest.

The number one hero, Blast, was a mystery to even most of the Association's staff, including the upper echelons, but the Association recorded his accumulating feats firsthand. Thus his existence was true.

Said feats were beyond outlandish, almost Saitama-level, reducing many monsters to pieces of meat and once brutally pounded a giant centipede monster to flee with its metaphorical tail behind his legs. They reminded him of Saitama's handiwork, but Tatsumaki later confirmed that he had hair once asked, so he dismissed the possibility of mistaken identity. Blast's existence served to escalate Ben's wariness that others like Saitama could exist in this world. He wondered if he could take on any of them without relying on his strongest aliens in a test of might and skill.

The number two hero was the green-haired girl dragging him by the psychic leash. According to her, the Association utilized her talents almost daily, exterminating all manners of monsters from Demon to the occasional Dragon, although the increasing number of monsters started to worry the Association's leaders somewhat.

Ben made a mental note of this particular minutia, to try his hand uncovering hidden clues leading to the monsters' origins. If not, at least some insight into their biology and the fundamental concept of monsterfication.

When he discovered that most monsters were mutated humans, Ben nearly passed out from the fear of his committing homicide. However, Tatsumaki calmed his nerves, informing that not only their belligerent nature posed a great danger to society, but also that the process of monsterfication was a choice in the end. Those Ben killed willingly abandoned their humanity to become something 'more,' which, ironically, also included Ben in a sense only for the greater good. In short, Ben should feel no guilt in slaughtering them, as all attempts for peace will lead to wasted time and energy in the end, proven by previous failed attempts at parlay with the inhuman terrorists.

Unlike the monsters, Ben never abandoned his humanity. Not wholly, merely swapping his human DNA for power at brief moments in time. The truth of monsters made Ben wonder… where was the thin line separating him and them? Both Ben and they sacrificed their forms for power. Only Ben's case was more, vaguely put, clean, risk-free through the aid of the device on his wrist.

Though in the end, that prospect failed to dismiss their similar mindsets of which he relied on power not his own. The one similarity Ben had with the monsters, was his reliance on a different strength, not that of a human's to achieve his goals.

Still, Ben cannot help but wonder. Will he even use the Omnitrix knowing that he can never be human again?

For the next hero, the number three of was an old, hunched back man, one even older than Grandpa Max, but his feats and accomplishments in the field dismissed Ben's comparisons. The one known as Silver Fang was more than a thousand times more vigorous than Grandpa Max could hope to be.

For others, there was a man that could be mistaken for the avatar of gluttony in human form, A heroic version of Billy Baxton, a samurai copied from the anime shows back on his Earth, a pretty boy ninja in white, a cyborg like Genos, a scarred warrior considered as the mightiest man on earth, an African-American bodybuilder, and etc.

The heroes among the S-Class were a colorful variety, gently put, though Ben questioned the validity of the hero known as Puri Puri Prisoner, an S-Class homosexual charged with repeated attempts of rape against those of the same sex.

For the first time in Ben's life, he felt genuine fear on this day when he learned of the lowest S-Class. He made a mental note to stay away from him at all costs even if it was the last thing he'll do.

As for the one known as the Strongest Man on Earth, Ben rummaged through the various feats he… 'accomplished.' A few of his exploits were eerily familiar now that Ben scried them with meticulous detail. All of them died by one punch, or so the story said, from the tallest giant to the most apocalyptic.

The graphic descriptions of his activities seem eerily similar to Saitama's methods. He shrugged them off, chalking them off as nothing more than coincidences. If there was one man that can kill anything in one punch, why not another? Though the report on the man decimating the giant whose height reached the clouds need investigating. He would have to ask Saitama on that later on.

During his tour, Tatsumaki showed him the S-Class meeting room, their military strategist room, the room where Child Emperor works for the Hero Association as tech support and strategist. The boy was absent at this time so that Ben couldn't meet him in person.

When Ben read about Child Emperor, he must admit that he was pretty impressive, becoming a hero at such a young age, a professional one at that. He accomplished the end goal at the age every kid dreamed of being, even earlier than Ben himself with just his own power…

'His own power…' Ben dropped his sight to the floor, in deep contemplation.

Ben only became a hero because of the Omnitrix falling from the sky, delivered for Grandpa Max, not him, his young ten-year-old grandson. Ben looked at his watch, contemplating a dangerous thought.

Could he still be a hero if he didn't found the Omnitrix? How would he grow? Would he be like the Ben without the Omnitrix?

"Yo, Alien Boy. You listening?"

Tatsumaki's sassy, mind-grating voice chimed at his displeasure.

"What is it this time, Terry?" Ben replied, using his moniker for Tatsumaki, mainly to return the suffering he endured listening to Tatsumaki's ego.

"Hmph, well, are you gonna join the Association or something? We're done here, you know?" Tatsumaki asked again, floating before Ben with her hands on her hips, her finger tapping on the hem of her somewhat revealing hero uniform. Still, her dress was quite revealing. Sometimes Ben could even see her panties under her triangular flaps, though he held no love for little girls.

Pondering his choices, Ben looked up in thought.

The benefits of joining the Hero Association were alluring. The pay was very lucrative, and Ben could perform his civic duties freely, saving time and effort. That, if he could bypass the danger of those like the Hero Association hunting him on the grounds of accusing Ben as a dangerous shape-shifting 'monster,' then now was his time.

"Well, why not? Quick question, do I have to, you know, do some boring paperwork or…"

Tatsumaki placed a finger on her chin, her eyes staring the lights of the hallway ceiling in thought.

"Well, you'll need to answer a few questions. How do you transform, what kind of 'aliens' you have, or something you might need to mention regarding the risks of your watch doohickey."

Tatsumaki pointed at the Omnitrix.

"Oh, right. That…" Ben widened his eyes upon realizing a crucial fact.

If he somehow messed up and lost control of the Omnitrix, resulting in mass destruction of property or needlessly scaring the populace, then the Association might issue a manhunt on his head. The last thing Ben wanted was a large red target painted on his back, and hunted by humans that won't hesitate to kill him if they labeled him as a 'monster.'

"Well, none that won't be a problem. You have my word."

Tatsumaki narrowed her eyes at Ben with slight suspicion.

"...I don't believe you."

Maintaining his forced smile, Ben repressed a twitch.

"I'm serious! No problems here!"

"Ehhhh…"

She still didn't believe him, her blank eyes and accusing tone more than obvious.

"Oh, come on! What will it take to convince you?"

Several seconds later, Tatsumaki suddenly smiled, as if a brilliant idea dawned on her.

"Hmmm, I wanna fight you. Face me in a duel, and I will vouch for you if you can entertain me enough."

His body remained inert, unresponsive for a brief second.

"What?"

"You heard me. You see, I am quite bored lately, and spent my free time hunting you down in hopes of entertainment. You've amused me this far, so why not see if you can amuse me further."

"..."

A thought that she was Saitama's relative crossed Ben's mind for a second there.

"Okay… well…" Ben paused in thought, wondering how he should handle her.

"...!" Then a brilliant idea dawned upon him. No, not brilliant. Complete genius. A means of revenge in the form of a harmless bet.

"...but if you want to fight me, you might have to fight someone I know first."

"Huh?" Arms crossed, brow scrunched, one eye narrowed, her jaw opened in confusion, her anticipation died significantly.

"Oh no, oh no. This guy is the strongest guy I know, don't you worry. If you can beat him, well, I will do anything you say for a week."

Ben made a dangerous bet. While he couldn't estimate the baldy's power, he had a feeling the baldy could beat Tatsumaki. Unlike Saitama, her power derived from her psychic might, not the same illogical power that is 'The Caped Baldy.'

"Oh ho? Is that a challenge?" Tatsumaki smirked as anticipation swelled in her soul while her heart trembled with excitement at the prospect of obtaining a heroic manservant.

"You chicken?"

Like a match to dynamite, Tatsumaki grinned as anger swelled in her veins.

"That's it. You're on. When will it start?" She returned his smirk with her own.

"Gimme a week, and I'll let you know. Think you can wait that long?" Ben had an idea how he could coerce Saitama into accepting the bet.

"Oh ho ho, take your time, runt. Prepare to be humiliated as you'll never believe."

Tangible, violent sparks clashed between the two, one with absolute confidence in her victory, while the other envisioning her unsightly defeat by 'hand of baldy,' as a historic rivalry was born on this very day.

* * *

When he returned home that day, the sunset in the east, already starting to cast the dim shadow of the night. The sudden abduction into the Hero Association shaved most of his time, especially after the imposed tour given by Tatsumaki, the child in an adult's body. Or was it the other way around? To Ben, no matter how old the child-woman was, he will always consider her a child via verisimilitude, in both mentality and bodily structure.

Once he returned home, he met up with Genos along the way and updated him on his day. Genos was not surprised that there was a Hero Association, instead he also recently discovered its existence as well, and was convinced to join the Hero Registry so that the populace would recognize him and Saitama as heroes. But, most critically, Genos would officially become Saitama's disciple.

"Are you serious?" Ben asked if he was serious.

"Yes. Saitama-sensei said so himself," Genos confirmed.

"What? Really?" Ben dropped his jaw in abject disbelief.

The revelation that Saitama out of all people will teach Genos how to move forward was beyond the scope of the word 'shocking' to Ben. Even if Saitama somehow possessed a hidden talent for teaching, Ben still chalked Saitama's choice as a disaster waiting to happen. He cannot stress how terrible it will end, both for Saitama and Genos.

Ben made a mental note to watch how Saitama will 'teach' Genos, mostly to see how the baldy will blunder his way out.

"...okay, I don't know what to say other than… you know what, never mind. I'll talk to you later. Hope to see you and Baldy turn into S-Rank at the exam, dude."

"Likewise. Have a safe night, Ben."

As Genos left the premises, Ben bid Genos goodnight before entering his abode. Once inside, Ben ate his dinner, prepared himself for bed after brushing his teeth and taking a nice, hot shower. He can feel the stress already leaving his system.

After finishing his nightly rituals, he jumped onto his bed, snoring his worries away as he drifted to his slumber.

However, his dreams did not arrive untampered.

Opening his eyes, the very same mercurial skies and three moons from before greeted his sight, causing Ben to jump up to review his surroundings and confirmed that he was, again, in Ersi's immaterial domain.

"What? Again? Seriously?" Ben complained, shooting up to his feet as he looked around for Ersi, hoping to wake up or something.

"Is your appreciation of the stars so ignorant?"

Glancing behind out of his prior experience, Ben saw Ersi stargazing again, still levitating above the ground in a lotus position like before.

Ben wondered if he considered walking beneath him, of which was a stray thought for another time.

"Dude, this has nothing to do with your 'stars.' Besides, why the heck did you bring me here?" Ben inquisitively probed.

Ersi had no business with Ben as far as he knew, absolutely no relationship whatsoever. If there was were words that could describe him, 'intrusive' could count as one of them.

"You speak as if I'm a bother."

"Well, I barely know you to be honest. And this is the second time you've dragged me here. So care to explain yourself this time?" Ben asked, wanting answers to Ersi's background and motives.

"The first time was curiosity. This time, a notice. I sense a member of your diverse family attempting to reach you from the infinite stars. The lengths this one traversed to even speak with you is, shall we say, admirable. But vain."

With a wave of his hand, Ersi conjured a steel-grey crystal ball the size of a bowling ball before Ben floating a few meters above ground, the opaque glass revealing Gwen in her secret lair left by Hex.

Like Ersi, she also sat down in a lotus position, except she laid in the center of a seven-pointed star, one of which resided in a magic circle, with each of the various candles placed on each of the seven angular points, burning polychromatic lights at the seven nodes around the caster. Not only that, Gwen's eyes were shut in her intense focus, while her body was in Anodite form, signifying the gravity of her efforts.

"Her attempts are futile, like crossing the oceans on foot."

Seeing Gwen, Ben grabbed the crystal ball and shouted.

"Gwen! Gwen! Can you hear me?!" He cried to reach his cousin across the stars.

However, his actions only earned a somewhat mocking scoff from Ersi, of which Ben responded with an irritated scowl.

"You're holding a looking glass, not a telephone. You cannot speak to someone behind the screen of conventional televisions, Ben," Ersi interjected.

Looking back at the red Celestialsapien, Ben aggressively questioned.

"What do you mean?! Can't you just zap her here or something?!"

"…" Ersi remained silent, staring at Ben with his white sun-like eye.

Ben gulped upon receiving his piercing cold gaze, forcing Ben to realize the extent of his rude outburst, and that Ersi was a Celestialsapien.

"I mean, can I please talk with her, oh great Celestialsapien Overlord, sir?" Ben politely asked with caution and respect this time, trying to appeal to Ersi's supposed ego.

Still, like a statue, Ersi locked Ben in his gaze with an eerie silence, unreadable, forebodingly mercurial.

"Do you know why she cannot contact you in this realm?"

"Uhh…" Ben slowly shook his head in confusion, unsure of the meaning behind his question. Or the point.

"Synastry. The laws of this universe are, hmmm, a rough equivalent to yours, but still disparate beyond your comprehension. Mana from your world, life energy, functions in a frequency unknown to its natives."

Ben had absolutely no idea what that word meant. He could barely even understand half of the Ersi's words.

"The 'mana' here is the same, tuning in a frequency alien compared to that of your realm's. The Message spell she is casting only works in the range of her universe, unable to interact with the life force attuned in a wavelength different from her own. Thus, she cannot contact you no matter how hard she tries, how many repeated attempts, unless she understood the frequency of this universe which is next to impossible. Also…"

Raising both hands, a magenta orb of pure mana emerged from one palm, while its jade green relative appeared in the other.

"Years are required even to realize that for any mortal or Anodite to contact this realm; she requires the other side to respond in turn, to reach out. But in the end, all is moot if either can't follow or attune to the other's frequency. Unless one of them can translate for her, which requires a level of skill far above her own."

With a snap of his finger, Gwen seemingly appeared in front of Ersi, confused and seemingly nauseated as she wobbled to her hands and knees with fatigue.

"A level of which I am far above. Cherish your time together. Remember, your timespan in this realm is _not_ unlimited."

Gwen arrived in her Lucky Girl costume, blue all over in theme. A blue domino mask veiled her eyes, light blue gloves reaching up to her wrists, a blouse leaving her stomach and arms naked, and a skirt around her waist with a few Charms of Bezel hanging from her cloth.

"Gwen!"

Rushing over with joy, Ben immediately pulled her in with a bear hug, joyous in his reunion with his cousin.

"Huh? B-Ben?" Gwen blubbered, still recovering from her sudden transfer, surprised by the sudden bear hug.

"Ben!" Gwen hugged Ben back with a smile, overjoyed that she finally managed to contact Ben.

"Enjoy catching up."

Ersi said as he levitated away, leaving Ben alone next to the Mr. Soothie restaurant, returning his focus to the stars above.

Turning her head to Ersi, Gwen widened her eyes at the sight of a Red Celestialsapien before her, the confounding view inciting Gwen to break off her hug and widened her stance. Wary of the stranger, Gwen already primed her spells in each hand, pink lights shrouding her palms, ready to attack at any signs of hostility.

"Wait, Gwen! Don't attack! He's friendly-ish!" Quickly, interjected between Gwen's line of sight and Ersi, frantically waving his arms to deter Gwen from unjustified violence.

Seeing Ben desperately defending the Alien, Gwen eased her guard, dispersing the pink coronas around each her hands in ease.

"Ben? Who…"

"Long story, but he helped bring you here. Don't worry. He's cool."

"And my ears are in range," Ersi remarked as he snapped his finger.

The next second, a table for two appeared, with chili fries, smoothies, burgers, and chips, and two bottles of smoothies resting on the flat top, providing a veritable feast for the two cousins.

"Enjoy yourselves while you can."

Staring at the table of fast food, Gwen awkwardly scratched her hair, unable to process the level of hospitality Ersi provided on their reunion.

"...uh, thanks?"

'...thank you.'

As for Ben, he secretly thanked Ersi with the bottom of his heart, his eyes sparkling with wonder as his stomach roared for its fix. After a month of no Smoothies or Chili Fries, the withdrawals kicked in, leading to heightened stress and anxiety which also lead to slight sleep deprivation. Ben did try eating the fries and smoothies here, but, in the end, it was not the same. His tongue was already addicted to the taste of chili fries and smoothies, and there was no cure for such an addiction.

Thus, leading to Ben to see Ersi as the most decent Celestialsapien he ever saw, more so than Bellicus and Serena.

'Why can't they be more awesome like this guy?' Ben complained. If they were as sensible as him, he wouldn't be here, banished in a bizarre world. In fact, he wanted to complain to them once Starbeard uplifted his banishment.

"So, Gwen… care to catch up?" Ben asked, offering her a seat.

His offer sounding enticing, Gwen smiled and accepted his offer, sitting on one of the seats with Ben seating himself athwart her.

"Alright, where should we start?" Gwen asked, picking her cup of smoothie and slurped the juice by the straw.

* * *

 **Author here. Yeah, busy a little, and this might be short, but here it is. I'm still looking for an editor/co-writer. Also, check chapter one if you haven't. Changed a lot of problems there hahaha.**


	7. Chapter 7: Catching Up

"S-Seriously, his head is just so goddamn shiny! I mean, it looks like it can reflect even Way Big's superlaser! Heck, probably Ultimate Way Big's too!"

Finishing his rant, Ben resumed shoveling and slurping his fix, the combination of chili fries and smoothies mixing into a 'flavorful' soup behind his over-puffed cheeks.

"Whoa, slow down, Ben. I know how much you like smoothies and chili fries, but come on. Shouldn't there be good food on your side?" Gwen giggled upon seeing Ben look more like a squirrel barreling food upon food as if preparing for hibernation.

After a few seconds of rapid chewing, Ben forcefully gulped the goop of gnashed foodstuffs, downing it through his tightening esophagus before he answered.

"Mmmmff, gulp, I tried! I really did! Yeah, sure this world has some tasty things, but it's just not the same without Mr. Smoothies!"

"And chili fries?" Gwen playfully added.

"Yes, and chili fries. Oh man, was I saved!" Ben then resumed shoveling his fix, leaving Gwen in amused silence as she calmly watched.

A feeling of nostalgia washed over her, the sight of Ben chowing down to his heart's content arousing many memories when they were still together. Barely more than a month passed since he left, and many had changed after his departure — too many changes to count.

"...when are you coming back?"

Her question struck a chord within Ben, enough to interrupt his feasting as he looked up from his food to his cousin.

"..." With a silent gulp, he answered.

"...what's it like back there?"

Ben had yet to finish talking about his new companions or reached the point of talking about monsters, however. Right now, he must be informed of the galaxy's status, especially that of Earth, following the days after his exile.

"It is…" Gwen looked away, furtively averting her gaze.

"How bad are we talking?" Ben almost forgot about the villains. Now that he was no longer there to maintain the peace, who knew what kind of chaos perforce took place in his absence.

"...kinda bad."

For some reason, Ben had the distinct notion Gwen was putting her words 'gently.'

"It is anarchy."

The voice of Ersi interjected nearby their table.

"Do you wish a glimpse?" He offered.

Ben and Gwen turned to the Crimson Celestialsapien, seeing him levitating with the same crystal orb lifted in hand.

Staring at the orb, Ben pursed his lips in uncertainty, unsure if he wishes to learn the true extent of the damage.

"…show me."

With those two words, Ersi casually lobbed the sphere towards the duo's table. Before it landed on their food, the orb froze in mid-air, levitating several inches above - reflecting each of the cousin's faces in their gaze.

"Observe."

Amidst the looking glass as Ersi dubbed it, the glass unraveled from omnipresent grey to infinite cosmic night. Then it zoomed towards one star, enlarged enough to reveal itself as a universe. Closing in, it focused on a specific lumen galaxy, countless solar systems the size of twinkling dust surrounding a lumen nucleus that was the supermassive black hole holding the star clusters together, of which was the Milky Way's center. Enlarging the image of a particular solar system, pushing out the galaxy from the scene, the familiar blue planet Ben called home entered their view.

However, once it zoomed in on the continent of North America, closing into the city of Bellwood as its target, Ben widened his eyes upon seeing true chaos unfold.

It was, like Ersi said, anarchy.

Heavy weaponized vehicles and equally heavily armored Plumbers armed with heavy laser rifles cordoning unknown insectoid life forms while civilians fled from the scene, the fierce battle could be described as a war more than a simple campaign against the unruly elements.

Shifting to another location, Bellwood city's Undertown, the criminals, ran amok causing mayhem, robbed cashiers while others bullied the unfortunate victims of their pocket cash.

Even Argit was ganged up by various bounty hunters, each one stomping him bruised silly. Ben found this one funny amidst the chaos.

"Intriguing, no? So much chaos in your absence, yes. 'Twixt the span between now and your first arrival, most of your enemies celebrated your absence with personal zeal. The scene on the glass is LIVE in real time," Ersi chuckled, finding the scene more amusing than depressing.

"What? Intrigu-that's my hometown!" Ben flabbergasted at Ersi.

"True, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth, as you humans say. I recently reviewed your realm's history and uncovered this is not the worse your planet experienced. Compared to earlier days, this is simply the calm."

Waving a hand, Ersi switched the focus from Bellwood to the Earth's orbit, outside the blue shell and into the starlight night that surrounds it.

Looking back, Ben squinted his eyes at the sight of a fleet of cruiser size surrounding Earth. Upon inspecting the design, Ben widened his eyes upon distinguishing the origins of the space cruisers.

"Is that the…"

The dark steel colored hull, the planar wings, and metal fin under the rear, the gestalt design similar to a kite welded to a bowl with cylindrical tubes underneath acting as landing supporters could only belong to one race.

"Yes. The Highbreed Armada. Your kind deeds have been repaid in full."

Flicking his wrist, Ersi swapped from to scenery, showing Ben and Gwen a slideshow of Earth's progressing status, starting with the current residents of the Plumber Base.

The crystal orb revealed quite a cast, a few magisters stationed on Earth's Plumber Command Center in Bellwood, Azimuth consulting his fellow Galvans on Earth in the science lab, the Amalgams attempting to quell the anarchy in Undertown, Verdona aiding the campaign against the giant mutant insects, even the Rooters that Ben once defeated fighting against more giant mutant insects, the same as those of Earth, within the Null Void.

"No matter how many times I see it, I still found your existence confounding. How could a clueless boy that did not undergo a proper monomyth could even get this far?" Ersi commented.

His words caught the duo's attention once again.

"What'd you say?" Ben had no idea what he just said as the word 'monomyth' derailed his train of thought, but for some reason, he could tell Ersi was demeaning him again.

"Do you know what's a monomyth?" Ersi asked.

"..."

An uncomfortable silence was Ben's response. Although, Ben swore Ersi was wryly smirking at him, almost as if to mock Ben's intelligence.

"Is… is he making fun of you?" Even Gwen received the notion of Ersi's mocking of Ben.

"...you too?" Ben sighed. Well, at least he can tolerate this aspect of Ersi's endearing qualities.

"...alright, moving on, what other bad news you got for me? Did Vilgax almost conquer the Earth? Galvan Prime II?" Not wanting to play Ersi's games, Ben returned the topic to the matter of Earth.

"...no. We had help from the Highbreed after your banishment, and, with great effort, managed to capture and imprison Vilgax when he did attempt to conquer the Earth."

Ben's frown slowly widened into a smile at the mention of Reiny.

"Even Grandma Verdona came to help contain the situation, but it's still a work in progress with the usual bad guys that appear almost daily.

"The only good news is we managed to weather the worst, but that doesn't count for Darkstar, Charmcaster, Albedo, Khyber… you get what I mean. In short, it is getting hectic here without you." Gwen sighed as she elbowed the table, resting her hand on her palm while slurping her smoothie through the straw.

"Oh… well, at least it's good to know that the world is still in one piece when I'm gone haha."

Ben sighed in relief, glad that Gwen and the others could manage without him.

"...so, how long until my banishment ends?" Ben asked.

"Well… we don't know." Gwen stopped slurping.

"What do you mean?" Ben assumed that Starbeard assigned a time limit to Ben's banishment. Hopefully, a reasonable one.

"Celestialsapien laws are… tricky," Gwen gently put, "We even asked Chadzmuth for help again after some bribing, but even he doesn't know anything about Celestialsapien laws, as they keep to themselves almost all the time."

"Really? Even that guy can't help?" Ben was utterly surprised. Chadzmuth may be intolerable secular scum, but at least he was professional in his line of work.

"There are some safeguards meant to uphold the dimensional stability of our existence recorded in the Galactic Court's Index of Laws, but further than that, we don't know anything about their culture beyond what we witnessed in the Forge of Creation. We tried contacting Paradox, but he was, well, indisposed at the moment."

"Cannot help because of time things?" Ben jokingly conjectured from experience.

"Yeah, cannot help because of time things. They tied even Paradox's hands," Gwen admitted with pursed lips, "We were hoping to ask a Celestialsapien for insider's info with his help."

"Really?"

Her words sparking his mental light bulb to life, Ben turned to Ersi, the guy still hovering in his lotus position. Why bother asking for a ride to a realm unreachable by conventional means when a person of interest was right beside you?

Gwen followed Ben's line of sight, slowly attuning herself to Ben's wavelength, her eyes gradually widening in realization.

"Oh… Ohhhhhh…"

"Alright, so, smart guy, care to tell me about your people's 'law'?" Ben asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"And why would I do that?" Ersi asked back with equal sarcasm.

"Well, you seem bored here so…" Ben twirled his finger around, cutting himself off to emphasize Ersi's solitude in an attempt to play it his way.

"A rude hypothesis, but close nonetheless. I merely find your presence… interesting, despite you being so undeserving of your fame since you are just a useless kid whose only good points is the watch on his wrist."

"Hey," Ben objected to that remark, despite his words hitting home where it hurts.

"But very well. The concept of time is nonexistent to us. We are immortal, can live forever, and are omnipotent. However, on the rare case of banishment, the outcast must reflect to return home, specifically their wrongs," Ersi cryptically explained in summary.

"W-What do you mean, 'wrongs?'" Ben blinked, unable to understand the word, a feeling shared by Gwen as well.

"In your case, absolve what led to your crime. The cause of your banishment, which -in this case- what lead to the blunder that resulted in the erasure of your universe, and subsequently recreating it," Ersi explained.

"..." Ben remained silent, unable to find the right words to respond. Guilt swelled in his heart at the mention of the Anihilaarg.

"Do you know what's a monomyth?" Ersi repeated his question, this time with an imperative purpose.

No, no, Ben did not.

"It means a 'Hero's Journey,' Ben," Gwen dutifully updated.

"What? A Hero's Journey?"

"It is the process that an individual undertakes to become a hero of legend, according to your world's terminology," Ersi nodded.

"What does that have to do with this?" Ben cannot understand the point.

"Truthfully, it is my conjecture, but a well-educated one. In short, everything," Ersi answered.

"What?"

"I will not tell. It is best you earn that understanding yourself, or else the monomyth will fail in the end," Ersi explained.

"I… don't follow."

"You will in time. Or not. It depends entirely on you," Ersi pointed his index finger at Ben after ending his sentence.

His cryptic words only left Ben mired more buried in the mud of confusion.

"...so, in short, Ben must… become a hero?" Gwen summarized the clues.

"...tch, you ruined it. But yes, Ben must learn to become a hero. A genuine one." Ersi clicked his non-existent tongue. Almost as if he wanted to have fun seeing Ben struggle.

"What?! I've saved the universe more time than I can count! And you said I'm not a hero?!" Ben shouted in outrage, now completely insulted for not taking his achievements into account.

Unfazed by Ben's outburst, Ersi greeted his discontent with stoic truth. One far more deadly than facing an enraged Celestialsapien.

"Yet, you failed. But instead of accepting your failure, you made it seem as if it never happened in the first place. Something even more shameful touching a realm that should not be touched by mortal hands. The worst crime anyone can commit."

Ersi's tone was cold, even more so than ice, his words stabbing Ben back with verbal hoarfrost that chilled his outrage into cooled uncertainty.

"...which is?" Ben hesitantly asked, still awaiting an answer from the red deity.

"Playing God."

His robust, unchallengeable response robbed Ben of the voice to retort. Two simple words were more than enough to sunder Ben's self-esteem in one, swift strike.

"Alright, you got me there. I admit it. But that's a one time deal, I swear," Ben admitted defeat this time. He cannot deny his failure, and Ersi's words reminded Ben of the subtle dangers power can bring if left unchecked.

"Is it?"

"..." This time, Ben had no answer.

"Regardless, I believe your time is up," Ersi notified of their time.

"The waking world beckons you, Ben. You have a big day ahead of you."

Before either of the cousins could respond, a wave of exhaustion struck Ben and Gwen, their eyelids now as heavy as lead. Their vision blurs as the abyssal black consumed their sight and their consciousness in their return to the waking world once again.

With a long, drawn gasp, Ben shot up from his bed panting for breath, sweat cascading his temples and his throat parched dry.

"...hah," Ben merely sighed.

"...what the heck does Ersi want from me?" He mumbled to himself.

Ben started to think Ersi did not hold him in high respect for some reason. The second time, Ersi questioned his occupation as a Hero, albeit with significant effect.

"Food for thought for another day-"

Suddenly, a burp escaped his throat. Followed by the scent of chili fries and smoothies.

"..." Ben quickly breathed into his hand, sniffing his breath once again, and confirmed that his breath indeed possessed the familiar stench of smoothies and fries. The food he ate there was real to his shock.

"...wow."

Ignoring Ersi's attitude, Ben hoped to return to that realm once again, the possibilities swimming his mind. He wondered if he could convince Ersi to give him the original-flavored smoothie he failed to recreate.

* * *

"So, how's Ben doing on the other side?"

Back in Universe 10, within the secret basement of Friedkin University's Library, Kevin leaned back against his cherished heavily armored car, watching Gwen slowly pick herself up while groaning from post-awakening disorientation.

"Ughh, he seems… well."

"Really? He can actually survive without his precious smoothies?" Kevin joked, earning a weak laugh and smile from Gwen.

"He even made some friends." Gwen rubbed her temples as the fatigue slowly bled away her while trotting towards Kevin in her grogginess.

"Friends, huh? What they look like?" Kevin chuckled, wondering what Ben's friends look like on the other side.

"Well… according to Ben? A caped baldy and a pretty boy cyborg."

Kevin had an inexplicably difficult time processing the words coming out her mouth, or picturing the words 'caped baldy' and 'cyborg.'

"Heehee. Yeah, you heard me. A caped baldy and a cyborg. One with a gleaming head." Gwen giggled upon remembering Ben's rants about the guy called Saitama.

"Hah! Really? He knows how to meet interesting folks, doesn't he?" Kevin spurted a laugh upon hearing Gwen's confirmation. Ben's first friend there a Caped Baldy? Kevin can't wait to meet him.

"Yeah, I know…" Gwen's smile slowly curled downwards upon remembering Ersi.

"Hey, Kevin. Are there any records of a Red Celestialsapien?" Gwen asked, unable to switch focus from Ersi. The way he spoke and his manner of speech, it seemed… too human.

"Hm? No? I mean, as far as I know, only black ones exist. Never seen one even in the Forge of Creation. Why?"

"I… was brought into a realm that looked just like Bellwood. Ben said he brought me here, which I am more than inclined to believe."

"What?" Kevin leaned forward, giving Gwen his full attention.

"Ben made a Celestialsapien friend?"

"I don't think 'friend' is the correct term. I mean, he seems more like… hmmm, I don't think there's a word for him." Gwen tapped her chin in thought, trying to find a good metaphor to describe him.

"...you said he is red?" Kevin asked, to make sure.

"Yeah, blood crimson in fact."

"The real question is, can we trust him?"

Was the Celestialsapien friend or foe? A question that truly mattered regarding Celestialsapiens. Kevin shifted his arms, crossing his arms before his chest.

"Well, he is generous enough to let me talk with Ben. Though he does seem a bit… odd."

"Odd how?" Kevin quirked a brow.

"I don't know how to put it, but… hmmm, anyway, he is quirky. Got a unique personality of his own somewhat."

"What kinda personality?"

"The… teasing kind, sometimes. Others, I don't know," Gwen shrugged.

"Huh, now I want to meet him once I get there."

Gwen pursed her lips upon remembering that debacle, the one with the giant insect mutants. Those were the consequence of Servantis attempting to reach Ben in an attempt to get terminate him under the nose of the Plumbers. What resulted was a disaster made flesh, literally in the forms of giant flying insects.

"Did you tell Ben about our little problem?" Kevin asked.

"Truthfully, I didn't have the chance. Everything happened too fast; I didn't have time to collect myself before the Celestialsapien sent me back," Gwen shook her head in denial.

"Well..."

There was another reason why they sought out Ben. To inform him of Kevin's arrival to the world he currently resides. The Plumbers did not know how Servantis managed to get ahold of Ben's location, especially into another universe, but Servantis did it in the end within the same lab in the Null Void.

When Servantis sent in his bio-mechanical spy drones to locate Ben in the new world, they underwent an unexpected change. When Servantis brought it back for study, mostly to see if he can weaponize it against the accursed wielder of the Omnitrix, it evolved, metamorphosized, and escaped into the Null Void with somehow impossible biology that should not be possible for a simple spy drone.

Not only that, it multiplied in the Null Void, and with Servantis' further carelessness managed to allow somehow the abominations to ream free on Earth. The Magisters caught wind of his actions, and they punished him severely for his crimes, his current penance was to recreate the portal that the creature destroyed during its escape and scout the other realm for any weaknesses against the infestation.

By accident, Kevin caught the scent of something familiar from her breath once she got close to him.

"...why does your breath smell like Chili Fries and smoothies?" Kevin asked.

They did not have any of the sorts for dinner as far as he knew. And they brushed their teeth afterward, so he found it odd.

"Hm?"

Confused, Gwen breathed into her raised hand and sniffed the air.

"...oh."

* * *

"So, yeah. I made a bet with a little girl, and I sort of included you without asking. So, care to fight a green brat that can move things with her mind?"

"...what?"

Saitama could not understand a lick of sense from his question.

"Yeah, long story short, I got dragged to the Hero Association and joined it. They even gave me S Rank from my feats or something… anyways, there's this S-Class Hero that wants to fight me, but I made a bet that you can beat her in one punch along the way to get back at her. So, will you help me?"

"No."

Saitama denied. He was in search of a good fight, not petty squabbles.

"Oh come on, Saitama, dude. Tell you what, let's make a bet. If I beat you best two out of three in Ultrabeat Fighters Four, you go fight Tatsumaki whether you like it or not."

"...okay…" Saitama blandly stared back at Ben in response.

"And I owe you like one or two favors since I dragged you into this. But if you beat me, I will buy all the expensive things you want in the marketplace. Literally anything. Along with three favors."

Ben added the favors since he knew how bad Saitama's gaming skills were in comparison to his professional skills in his hero duty. The sight of a defeated Baldy was both hilariously amusing and comically refreshing since it adds a more human feel in Saitama.

Saitama's face grew serious, now fired up and ready to fight.

"I'm in."

The two entered the living room and prepared their duel to the virtual death in the screen.

After what felt like one hour later, Ben and Saitama tied each one, a victory for each. However, Ben was winning this time, his health bar in the green while Saitama's stood in the red.

"Seriously? You did what to the ninja?" Ben asked Saitama, amidst in a conversation about Sataiman's random encounter with an actual modern ninja while owning the baldy hard in the game.

"I didn't start it, remember? He just landed on my fist at the end," Saitama protested, shuddering from the feel of… he forgot his name. He quickly dismissed Sonic's existence from his memory a second later.

"Oooooooohhhhhhhh."

Even Ben couldn't imagine the level of pain that poor guy endured. Saitama punching one's sacred treasure was one thing, but on a crash course towards the fists of death… he barely suppressed a shiver as he shuffled his seating position a little in defense of his groin in phantom pain.

"So, you're entering the Hero Registry today, huh? Heard from Genos you want to be recognized, but I never took you for the guy that cares about what others think of you."

Ben started another conversation regarding Saitama's enrollment.

"Meh, I want just others to notice me at least, you know? Do you have any idea how long I've fought monsters as a Hero? I fought countless monsters, terrorist organizations, and other things yet people still didn't recognize my feats. It's weird, don't you think?"

"Yeah… It is weird."

Even if Saitama didn't publicly declare his feats, someone should recognize his contributions to society at least. Strange, considering the Hero Association recognized Ben and not Saitama at all. Genos excluded since he preferred to not participate in a group for the entertainment of the masses, or so Genos said when they talked.

"Yes! Got a combo!" Ben smirked his pearly whites upon reversing his dilemma, finally escaping Saitama's ultra-cheap one-move combo and landed a direct, high aerial hit.

"What?! No! No!"

Ben continued mashing buttons on his controller, pummeling Saitama's avatar, an oversized man-dragon, with his character, a young prodigious blonde hero in a white costume and depleted Saitama's remaining health to zero.

"Hah! Ben Tennyson, Two! Caped Baldy, One!"

"Aggggghhhhh!" Saitama raged, throwing his controller down in a fit of outrage.

"Damnnnnn iiiit!" The baldy roared to the ceiling before dramatically dropping to his knees.

"Now you gotta fight the girl, dude! No take-backs!"

Ben jubilantly gloated in his inevitable victory.

"I will make you eat your face one day!" Saitama declared with indignity before stomping towards his room in rage quit, only causing Ben to widen his sheepish grin.

Through his time here as the baldy's neighbor, Ben found that, no matter how many times he beat the overpowered baldy, he'll never tire of defeating Saitama in the games. His reactions when defeated were beyond priceless. He wondered what else he could bet against Saitama later on. Another time, perhaps.

* * *

 **The author here, sorry it took a while. Was busy cleaning chapter one again, and chapter six. Chapter five as well. Will clean the other three when I have the time. I am still in need of an editor hahaha. It's a complete chore cleaning up all of the chapters, you know?**

 **Also, on another note, just bought a book for me to read. Darksiders... yeah. I am currently also leveling my skills even further as a writer.**


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